00:22Trump has now sanctioned two senior ICC officials,
00:28including court president Tomoko Akane.
00:32And the message from the United States is unusually blunt.
00:37The Trump administration says it wants to end
00:40what it calls the ICC's threat to national sovereignty.
00:45There's no information that they're after me.
00:48It could happen.
00:50But just so you know,
00:54he's not trying to defend me.
00:56He is trying to defend Bibi and various other people.
00:59But there are many people that shouldn't be looked at that way.
01:02But there is no indication that I'm one of them at this moment.
01:08The sanctions were announced by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
01:13on August 18, with Washington accusing the court
01:17of being politicized, unaccountable,
01:20and of exceeding its legal mandate.
01:23The second official targeted is senior ICC trial lawyer,
01:28Abudole Say.
01:30So why is Washington taking this step?
01:33According to the U.S. administration,
01:36both officials were directly involved in efforts to investigate,
01:41arrest, detain, or prosecute officials from governments
01:45that have not accepted the ICC's jurisdiction.
01:50Washington argues that the court has repeatedly attempted
01:54to exercise authority over American nationals
01:57and people from other countries that have neither accepted ICC jurisdiction
02:02nor ratified the Rome Statute.
02:06And the U.S. says this creates what it calls a dangerous precedent
02:11because Washington's argument is that an international court
02:15should not be able to exercise authority over citizens
02:19of a country that has not accepted its jurisdiction.
02:22But this is bigger than sanctions against two individuals.
02:27The Trump administration says its campaign against the ICC will continue,
02:33and it is calling on other countries to stop funding
02:36or participating in the court.
02:39The White House has also warned that more measures could follow.
02:43In its strongest language yet,
02:45Washington says it is prepared to take additional steps
02:49to systematically dismantle the ICC if necessary.
02:54That means the confrontation is far from over.
02:58The United States is effectively challenging the ICC's authority,
03:03while the court maintains its role in investigating
03:06and prosecuting serious international crimes within its jurisdiction.
03:12And there is a wider political backdrop to this fight.
03:15The Trump administration has previously linked its ICC campaign
03:20to the court's actions involving Israeli officials,
03:24including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
03:28But Washington's latest statement goes beyond any single case.
03:33It attacks what the administration sees as the ICC's broader claim
03:38to jurisdiction over officials from countries that have not consented to it.
03:44For the ICC, this could mean growing pressure from Washington.
03:49And for the United States, the objective is clear—to prevent the court
03:54from targeting American nationals and officials from other non-member states.
04:00So the question now is, will these sanctions remain targeted at individual ICC officials,
04:07or is Washington preparing for a much wider confrontation with the court itself?
04:13The Trump administration says its campaign will be sweeping,
04:18and warns that more action could be coming.
04:24So just a couple points that we all know we've followed in the news, obviously,
04:28the events in the Middle East and others who have talked about that,
04:30not that they're not important,
04:31but there's some other issues happening around the world, Mr. President,
04:34that you've shown great leadership in that have not gotten nearly as much attention.
04:37I think they've observed and mentioned today.
04:39The first is the International Criminal Court is an illegitimate international organization
04:44that frankly—illegitimate, they've made themselves illegitimate,
04:46because they claim that even if you're not a member of that court, they can come after you.
04:50What that literally means in the future is that American servicemen, political leaders,
04:54and others could find themselves under indictment by this International Criminal Court.
04:59If you want to know a little bit about it, Jack Smith used to work there.
05:02These are the people that think they can go out and basically indict any world leader
05:05and call them into the Hague.
05:07So we've begun—we tried to get them to reform and listen to us.
05:10They wouldn't do it. They're very arrogant.
05:11We've now begun an effort to really try to bring that court to heel.
05:15By the way, there's no information that they're after me.
05:18It could happen.
05:20But just so you know, because she's talking about it and I'm saying,
05:23that means that maybe—he's not trying to defend me.
05:26He is trying to defend Bibi and various other people.
05:29But there are many people that shouldn't be looked at that way.
05:32But there is no indication that I'm one of them at this moment.
05:37That's right.
05:38Well, and I actually think the people who are in biggest danger in our system are servicemen,
05:43people in uniform.
05:43That they'll try to go out for the rest of their lives.
05:45They'll not be able to travel anywhere in the world with their families
05:47because they can be arrested on one of these—
05:50Imagine, you're a soldier, you fought in a war,
05:51and 20 years later they try to come grab you.
05:54So this is a big problem.
05:55So we've had dozens of countries already join us in this effort.
05:57Since we started two weeks ago, five countries have already quit the ICC
06:01and notified them that they're leaving, and we think there'll be more.
06:03The second thing is we had an unprecedented ministerial.
06:06Sixty countries came to Washington and were a part of an effort
06:10where we were shedding light on far-left terrorism and violence.
06:13You know, if a bomb goes off somewhere and it's tied to some right-wing group,
06:16or what I—I don't consider neo-Nazis right-wing, I consider them Nazis, right?
06:21But you're going to get a lot of attention on that.
06:23But if it's a leftist group, an Antifa group, that gets no coverage,
06:26or they ignore the ideological spin and the ideological reason behind it.
06:31So we've got sixty countries came up here and hopefully creating a strong coalition
06:34to go after far-left violent terrorism.
06:37Go after it, call it by name, and I think we're building a very strong coalition there.
06:41The second thing is we had an unprecedented ministerial.
06:44Sixty countries came to Washington and were a part of an effort
06:47where we were shedding light on far-left terrorism and violence.
06:50You know, if a bomb goes off somewhere and it's tied to some right-wing group,
06:54or what I—I don't consider neo-Nazis right-wing, I consider them Nazis, right?
06:58But you're going to get a lot of attention on that.
07:00But if it's a leftist group, an Antifa group, that gets no coverage,
07:04or they ignore the ideological spin and the ideological reason behind it.
07:08So we've got sixty countries came up here and hopefully creating a strong coalition
07:11to go after far-left violent terrorism.
07:15Go after it, call it by name, and I think we're building a very strong coalition there.
07:19We've had some success in the Middle East, Mr. President.
07:22As you know, in the diplomatic front, the deal with Lebanon and Israel is unprecedented.
07:26President Ayoun was here a week ago.
07:28I think that was the first visit by the Lebanese president in over 30-some odd years.
07:32In fact, this is the first time the Israelis and the Lebanese government have spoken
07:35at the official level in close to 30 years.
07:39A lot of work to be done to keep that peace in building, but it's a real achievable.
07:43And of course, as you announced last night, Mr. President, this disarmament deal that you brought about
07:47with Steve and Jared's work on Hamas is another big step as well.
07:52It's something a lot of people thought would never happen.
07:54It needs to happen, but the fact that they even agreed to it is a real achievable.
07:58Last point is on the Western Hemisphere.
08:00For the first time in 15, 20 years, the overwhelming majority of the countries in the Western Hemisphere
08:06are now led by pro-American leaders and pro-American governments.
08:10It's an extraordinary achievement, all of it happening through a success.
08:13Virtually every election that's happened in the Western Hemisphere,
08:16if you were elected president, has elected someone who is American.
08:19And I think this is an incredible situation.
08:22And last but not least, and I have to thank a number of agencies here,
08:25particularly the Department of War, after that terrible earthquake in Venezuela.
08:29Within 36 hours, the full force of the American government was on the ground
08:34providing humanitarian assistance. It was a sight to behold.
08:37The USS Ford, I think, was in their port.
08:40Our Marines and Armed Service personnel were helping run their airport and their tower.
08:45It is one of the fastest, most dramatic, and most effective humanitarian responses,
08:50certainly in recent history, if not ever.
08:52And they came at the direction of the president.
08:54In fact, within an hour of that earthquake hitting, I remember because I was overseas,
08:58the president called and said,
08:59make sure we go in there and help these people recover from this.
09:02And we did.
09:03And thanks to your leadership, Mr. President.
09:05It's a great story.
09:06Enough needs to be told about it because the credit goes to
09:09so many agencies represented here today,
09:11but really the Department of War's effort was phenomenal.
09:14So, thank you.
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