Secretary of State Marco Rubio attacked the International Criminal Court in a speech to the conservative Federalist Society in Washington on Friday, arguing for a muscular foreign policy and against international law restraining American action.
The speech was Rubio's first prepared remarks since Republicans were routed in the midterm elections on November 3, and it heightened speculation over whether he will leave his roles as national security adviser and top U.S. diplomat to run for president in 2028. Rubio has firmly denied reports that he will soon embark on a presidential campaign, though the Federalist Society is an occasional stop for Republican hopefuls.
Rubio also acknowledged that Americans are struggling economically, touching on the issue voters cited in delivering heavy losses to his party. "People are struggling," he said, according to the Associated Press.
He dismissed criticism that the Trump administration has broken international law by seizing Venezuelan then-President Nicolas Maduro and striking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that the administration says were carrying drugs.
In his speech, Rubio said the goal of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran was to prevent Tehran from ever developing a nuclear weapon, which he said was particularly urgent because the Islamic Republic's "radical Shia clerics" had an "expansionist mentality." He contrasted that with the government of North Korea's Kim Jong Un, whom President Donald Trump has met three times. "I'm not excusing the terrible things that have happened there," Rubio said of North Korea. "I'm just saying he (Kim) is not expansionist. He's not trying to invade Japan or, you know, China or whatever."
The United States, Rubio said, would not "submit to the sterile vision of radical judges or soulless global bureaucrats," repeating his assertion that the court would try to prosecute U.S. officials or service members — the argument he used to justify sanctions against the ICC announced last month.
"Americans have never agreed to submit to the ICC's authority, but that court and its allies in the global bureaucracy have appointed themselves judge and jury and executioner of the international order," Rubio said.
The Trump administration has long been hostile to the Netherlands-based court, founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges. The court has strong backing from most member states, including all European Union countries and all members of the NATO alliance apart from the United States and Turkey.
Washington has denounced the court over arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and over its investigation into the actions of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, which the ICC says is "deprioritized." The U.S. sanctions, designed to stifle the court's ability to operate, will take effect in April unless supporters of the court can reach an agreement with Washington to avert them.
Rubio suggested that if the court tried to enforce its rulings against Americans, Washington would respond with force. Quoting the Roman general Pompey, he said the U.S. response would be: "Stop quoting laws to men with swords."
