FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration is escalating its campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the Hague-based tribunal of ignoring atrocities committed by authoritarian regimes while unlawfully targeting the U.S.and its service members.State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital that the ICC has "violated international law by targeting the United States and American servicemen" while it has "repeatedly turned a blind eye to the abuses of despotic regimes that fund terrorism, brutally suppress and torture their citizens, and carry out crimes against humanity."The remarks are the latest step in the administration's broader effort to weaken the court, which U.S.
officials argue has exceeded its authority by investigating Americans despite the U.S.never joining the Rome Statute that established the ICC.
Earlier this year, the administration imposed sanctions on senior ICC officials and pledged to continue a diplomatic campaign against the tribunal.TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SANCTIONS SITTING PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT FOR 'ABUSES OF POWER'The Trump administration is escalating its campaign against the International Criminal Court, accusing the Hague-based tribunal of ignoring atrocities committed by authoritarian regimes while unlawfully targeting the United States and its service members.(Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)Pigott vowed the U.S.
"will continue its diplomatic campaign to systematically dismantle the court."The administration has already imposed sanctions on ICC officials and launched a diplomatic campaign urging allies to reject the court's authority and reconsider their membership in the Rome Statute.The department argued the ICC has never opened a preliminary examination into Iran despite decades of allegations of human rights abuses, including the suppression of protests, executions of political prisoners and state sponsorship of terrorism.It also noted that the court closed a preliminary exam...