Did Trump Just Sanction Amal Clooney?

On Thursday President Donald Trump signed an executive order sanctioning the dangerous and corrupt International Criminal Court.

"The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC. Neither country has ever recognized the ICC's jurisdiction, and both nations are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war," the order states.

The order is a direct response to the ICC's efforts to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC has also attempted to prosecute U.S. soldiers fighting wars overseas.

"The United States will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC's transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members, as their entry into our Nation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States," the order continues. "I therefore determine that any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute protected persons, as defined in section 8(d) of this order, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to address that threat."

Attorney Amal Clooney, a Lebanese-British citizen and wife of actor George Clooney, worked with the ICC to recommend arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

"Amal Clooney is one of the legal experts who recommended that the chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the militant Hamas group," the Associated Press reported in May 2024. "The human rights lawyer and wife of actor George Clooney wrote of her participation in a letter posted Monday on the website of the couple’s Clooney Foundation for Justice. She said she and other experts in international law unanimously agreed to recommend that International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan seek the warrants."

"All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person, of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in," the order states.

"The unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens determined to meet one or more of the criteria in section 1 of this order, as well as immediate family members of such aliens, or aliens determined by the Secretary of State to be employed by, or acting as an agent of, the ICC, would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and the entry of such persons into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, is hereby suspended, except where the Secretary of State determines that the entry of the person into the United States would not be contrary to the interests of the United States, including when the Secretary of State so determines, based on a recommendation of the Attorney General, that the person's entry would further important United States law enforcement objectives. In exercising this responsibility, the Secretary of State shall consult with the Secretary of Homeland Security on matters related to admissibility or inadmissibility within the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security," the order continues.

In summer 2024, former President Joe Biden refused to endorse sanctions on the ICC and its partners after receiving an angry phone call from George Clooney, a top Democrat campaign donor and influencer.