US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attacked the International Criminal Court in a speech to a conservative legal group on Friday, arguing for a muscular foreign policy and against international law restraining US actions.
Rubio’s speech to the Federalist Society in Washington, his first prepared remarks since Republicans were routed in the midterm elections on November 3, heightens speculation over whether he will leave his roles as national security adviser and top US diplomat to run for president in 2028.
Rubio, who has at times sought to provide an intellectual justification for President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, has firmly denied reports he will soon embark on a presidential campaign, but the Federalist Society is an occasional stop for Republican hopefuls.
He has dismissed criticisms that the Trump administration has broken international law by such actions as seizing Venezuelan then-President Nicolas Maduro and striking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that it says were carrying drugs.
In his speech, Rubio said the goal of the US-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.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attacked the ICC, suggesting that if the court tried to enforce its rulings against Americans, Washington would respond with force. Quoting the Roman general Pompey, Rubio said the US response would be: “Stop quoting laws to men with swords.” https://t.co/K6qPnniyqF
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He contrasted this with the government of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, whom 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 US, 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 US officials or service members that 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.
Rubio suggested that if the court tried to enforce its rulings against Americans, Washington would respond with force. Quoting the Roman general Pompey, Rubio said the US response would be: “Stop quoting laws to men with swords.”
Source: Agencies