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SummarySanctions target ICC judges over Afghanistan, Israel cases ICC condemns sanctions as undermining judicial independence Sanctions complicate financial transactions for targeted judges WASHINGTON/THE HAGUE, June 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court, an unprecedented retaliation over the war tribunal's cases regarding alleged war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and over the court's issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Washington designated Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler...

Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer NEW THREAD: 🚨 STATE DEPARTMENT VETTING CRISIS CONTINUES 🚨 OBAMA HOLDOVERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE JCPOA (otherwise known as the Iran Nuclear Deal) STILL EMPLOYED AT US STATE DEPARTMENT WHERE THEY ARE ADVISING ON IRAN NEGOTIATIONS IN THE NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION 🇺🇸 🇮🇷 As President Donald Trump prepares to steer America’s foreign policy into a bold new era and engages in direct negotiations with Iran, a troubling relic of the Obama administration still lingers inside the US State Department: Nathanael “Nate” Swanson. Swanson is another Obama era unelected bureaucrat who has been entrenched at...

The Trump Administration has ordered US embassies to halt all student visa applications as the president cracks down on America's higher education business. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed officials to stop scheduling appointments with student visa applicants as they prepare to implement a social media vetting process, according to a cable obtained by Politico. 'Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel, which we anticipate in the coming...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered some shocking data points about American foreign aid spending before the Trump administration reformed the system. During testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, the top diplomat revealed that the White House discovered a foreign aid regime that was distracted and inefficient. Only 12 cents of every dollar spent by USAID reached recipients. ... while a mere 12 cents went to recipients, the other 88 cents was pocketed by third parties. ... Rubio noted that the United States is still giving “more humanitarian support than the next 10 countries combined” even after...

In addition to being the President Trump appointed lead investigator of the newly formed “Government Weaponization Working Group,” former DC U.S. Attorney Ed Martin is now, not accidentally, the DOJ lead in charge of pardon reviews.As more and more information about Joe Biden’s cognitive incapacity begins to surface the question becomes, who was behind the Biden pardon’s using the autopen? Ed Martin is now looking….[SOURCE]I think the awakening American public will soon discover that ultimately those who received pardons came as a conclusion of discussions amid those who were involved in the weaponization of government. The intersections will tell the...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Chris Van Hollen clashed during a heated Senate hearing on the 2026 State Department budget. Van Hollen said he regretted confirming Rubio, prompting a sharp retort from Rubio: “Your regret confirms I’m doing a good job.” The fiery exchange highlighted deep divisions over U.S. foreign policy and accountability in the State Department.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the Syrian transitional authority may be weeks away from potential collapse and full-scale civil war, defending US President Donald Trump's decision to lift Syria sanctions and to engage with the Damascus government. "It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they're facing, are maybe weeks, not many months, away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Going Entebbe on the hostage-taking dictator, right in front of his patron, Vladimir Putin. For Venezuela's fraudulently elected Nicolas Maduro, in Moscow to pay tribute to his patron Vlad Putin, yesterday was kind of embarrassing for both of them. Way under the radar, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been busy, figuring out a way to make both of them look like weaklings, and with perfect timing, he succeeded: The U.S. welcomes the successful rescue of all hostages held by the Maduro regime at the Argentinian Embassy in Caracas. Following a precise operation, all hostages are now safely on U.S....

Just a hair over a week ago (ten days to be exact), an official arm of the German government declared the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party - now polling as Germany's most popular party in the country - a 'right-wing extremist' group. Yeah, right - so big deal, no? I mean, they've been calling them that forever. Actually, it was a big deal. It made the epithet an official label, opening the party and every last one of its members to constant, sanctioned (instead of surreptitious) government surveillance. It was also the first necessary step in the process of...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the "way forward for a ceasefire" in Ukraine with European counterparts, including the foreign ministers of Britain and France, and the EU's foreign policy chief, the State Department said on Monday. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and his German and Polish counterparts were also on the call, according to the readout.

A core group of top US officials — including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State and interim national security adviser Marco Rubio, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — had been closely monitoring the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan when on Friday morning, the US received alarming intelligence, Trump administration officials told CNN. While they declined to describe the nature of the information, citing its sensitivity, they said it was critical in persuading the three officials that the US should increase its involvement. Vance himself would call Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The vice president briefed...

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are seemingly at odds amid a U.S. truce with Houthis in Yemen and the President seeking to peacefully negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran without plunging the United States into another endless war. According to Axios, Trump met with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in private on Thursday to discuss upcoming nuclear talks with Iran and Israel’s Gaza campaign. Dremer also met with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on...

Venezuelan lawmaker Freddy Superlano, a member of the opposition party, is in serious but stable condition after being poisoned in Colombia, his party says. His cousin has passed away. Voluntad Popular, the party of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, said late on Saturday that Superlano was poisoned at a restaurant in Cúcuta, a city near the border with Venezuela. His assistant and cousin, Carlos Salinas, died.

With four hats, including national security adviser, the former Trump rival is defying predictions he’d be a weak player. Marco Rubio is doing big things under President Donald Trump — way more than nearly anyone expected. The secretary of State was once thought of as one of the weakest players in the Trump orbit, a man who wouldn’t last long in the Cabinet because he faced many internal rivals and had major policy differences with Trump and the MAGA base. But Rubio has deftly earned the president’s trust, enough so that Trump this week gave him another powerful job as...

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s “kowtowing” to President Donald Trump had been disappointing. Host Jake Tapper said, “Is Secretary Rubio able to do the two main jobs there?” Warner said, “I don’t know how anybody could do these two big jobs, and they’re frankly very different. One is actually trying to diplomatically work with friends and adversaries around the world. And unfortunately, the number of adversaries has gone up dramatically as Trump’s approach has been so awful to our allies. The other are our national security adviser...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced the closure of the Global Engagement Center as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the “censorship-industrial complex.”“Today, it is my pleasure to announce the State Department is taking a crucial step toward keeping the president’s promise to liberate American speech by abolishing forever the body formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio wrote in an op-ed for the Federalist, titled, “Rubio: To Protect Free Speech, The Censorship Industrial Complex Must Be Dismantled.”Rubio wrote that, in 2016, the Obama administration changed the GEC’s focus on combatting international terrorism cover...

The acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was replaced Friday, only three days after assuming the role, as his appointment triggered a power struggle between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Elon Musk of the Department of Government Efficiency, the New York Times reported. Gary Shapley was replaced after Bessent complained to President Donald Trump that Musk circumvented Bessent’s office to secure the position for Shapley, the NYT reported. The outlet cited people who said they were familiar with the situation. Shapley was a longstanding IRS agent who accused the Biden administration’s Department of Justice of dragging out its...

As noted by Politico, within the ruling Boasberg goes on to say: …”if the administration doesn’t rectify the issue, the judge said he may require administration officials to testify under oath so that he can identify the specific individuals responsible for violating his order. He would then request that those individuals be prosecuted. The judge signaled he could appoint an outside lawyer to prosecute the contempt case if the Justice Department declines to do so.” (link) I think we all know the very select group of “beach friend” people whom Boasberg would lean toward in appointing someone to prosecute Pam...

Judge Paula Xinis is setting the stage to hold Trump officials in contempt. Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia demanded the Trump Administration ‘comply’ with the Supreme Court order and release the MS-13 gang member from the CECOT prison. In a new court filing on Tuesday Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said the Trump Administration has to at least request his release from the CECOT prison and help ‘facilitate’ his return from El Salvador. The attorneys said, “There is no evidence that anyone has requested the release of Abrego Garcia.”

President Donald Trump entered UFC 314 on Saturday night in Miami on Saturday night. President Trump walked out flanked by his two grandchildren at his side. He was followed by Dana White, Elon Musk, gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, and several more. Before President Trump reached his seats he greeted DNI Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director Kash Patel, HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr….. But NOT his wife Cheryl Hines who he skipped over. Ouch!