Speaker Johnson: Congress reviewing possible actions against ICC after Israel arrest warrants
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Published 2024-05-22
"If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israel's leaders, we know that America will be next. There is a reason that we've never endorsed the International Criminal Court because it is a direct affront to our own sovereignty," said Johnson Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill.
"We don't put any international body among or above American sovereignty and Israel does that. It doesn't do that either. Congress is reviewing all of our options right now. We have some very aggressive legislation that we're going to push."
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan says he's seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes linked to the war in Gaza, including intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population and using starvation as a weapon of war.
Khan is also seeking warrants against three Hamas leaders over the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack that ignited the war.
Israel’s top justice officials — Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Prosecutor Amit Aisman— issued a statement on Wednesday calling the ICC allegations against Israel “unfounded.”
They said Israel’s legal offices “thoroughly examine all credible allegations of violations of the law by state officials, and enforce the law” adding that the ICC “lacks jurisdiction to conduct an investigation into the matter.”
Human right groups have long accused Israel of failing to investigate or punish its security forces over violence committed against Palestinians.
Johnson was also asked about the case against former president Donald Trump in New York.
"What we've what we've said about what's happening in Manhattan is I've called it a disgrace because it is it's clearly lawfare," said Johnson.
"Everybody knows what's going on. Everybody, if you look at this objectively, there's no way to to look at this in any other way. The case is patently absurd. You've had every every legal analyst, across the board acknowledge as much. It needs to, it needs to be handled quickly. And I hope that he will be fully acquitted there and we can move forward. But the damage has been done. They're doing real damage to our system of justice itself."
Trump has been charged with falsifying records at his company in order to disguise the true nature of payments made in 2017 to one of his lawyers, Michael Cohen.
Prosecutors say the money was for Cohen's work suppressing negative stories about his boss during the 2016 presidential campaign, including one about an alleged sexual encounter with a porn actor, Stormy Daniels. Trump, who denies Daniels' account, has said the company properly classified them as legal expenses.
All Comments (21)
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This smacks of desperation for AIPAC campaign donations. We see right through you and it's shameful.
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That's what happens when a party nominates a CRIMINAL!
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Dude work for US citizens not A Foreign government, oh sorry you are working for those who paid you
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These guys are criminals, plain and simple.
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We know who pays their bills
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This is called arrogance, hegemony and being above the so called international law.
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But won’t do anything for americans
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Speaker Johnson has many faces. Which one is he displaying now? No human being knows.
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We are not going to allow any outsider to judge us! We will continue to investigate ourselves like we’ve always done and will continue our long standing practice of never find ourselves guilty! If we find ourselves not guilty & anyone dares to contradicts us we will sanction them!
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Wish they would protect the American people
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Why doesn't the speaker and congress focus on America and stop meddling in foreign affairs? Who elected us to be the world's police and judge?
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Congress passed a law that makes it illegal to insult Isreal wtf?
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Put the Crack pipe down.
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Mike Johnson here proving Russia and China right once again!
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criminal party is against justice
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An insurrectionist should not be a house leader.
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Moses Mike 🙄
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Israel owns the US I see
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Announcing their next goose chase to waste time....😂😂😂😂
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Go on, speaker. Give more evidences, make more easy to prosecute you.
