ICC Judges Accuse Trump of Obstructing Afghanistan War Crimes Investigations

Three judges from the International Criminal Court have publicly accused United States President Donald Trump of taking steps to prevent investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan. The judges made their claims through a formal complaint lodged in a United States federal court.

In their filing, the judges said that President Trump has abused his legal powers. They pointed to sanctions he imposed on International Criminal Court judges who were working on cases involving Afghanistan and Palestine.

President Trump has rejected these accusations outright. He argued that because the United States and Israel are not members of the International Criminal Court, the institution has no authority to act against officials or citizens from those countries.

Earlier actions by the Trump administration included the imposition of travel bans on certain members of the International Criminal Court. The administration also moved to freeze assets belonging to some of those individuals. The judges involved are three in number and have taken this action to address what they view as interference in their work. Trump's statements echo previous positions taken by his administration on the matter of the court's jurisdiction.