Politicians, podcasters and even celebrities are claiming President Donald Trump could be guilty of war crimes for what he said in a social media post earlier this week.
Can a sitting president be found guilty of war crimes? Technically, yes, under international law, but holding them accountable is much harder than proving it.
The United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court, though the court can still claim jurisdiction in limited circumstances, such as when alleged crimes occur on the territory of a member state.
Modern international humanitarian law, borne from the Geneva Convention of 1949, established an international protocol for dealing with war conflicts.
Three core treaties of the convention are ratified under U.S. law:
- Protection of wounded and sick soldiers.
- Treatment of prisoners of war.
- Protection of civilians during war.
When Trump posted on Tuesday that, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” and added that he doesn’t “want that to happen, but it probably will,” if the leadership of Iran did not open the Strait of Hormuz and agree to a ceasefire deal before his deadline, many said the comments showed criminal intent.
The Free Press writer Eli Lake posed a theory that Trump’s actions with Iran is him “waging psychological warfare with the remnants of a battered regime.”
“For those already inclined to loathe Trump, he is America’s mad king, lunging and love-bombing and then threatening an adversary that has outfoxed him,” He continued. “For the president’s fans, this is the art of the deal on steroids.”
Trump’s critics were quick to respond
Actor George Clooney told a room of 2,700 Italian students on Wednesday that his president’s rhetoric was a potential “war crime.”
“If someone says he wants to end civilization, that’s a crime. You can still support the conservative point of view, but there has to be a line of decency, and we shouldn’t cross it,” he said, per Italian news outlet ANSA.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded on X, “The only person committing war crimes is George Clooney for his awful movies and terrible acting ability.”
Even media personality and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones criticized the president’s statements.
“WARCRIME ALERT!!” he posted on X. “The definition of genocide is destroying an entire civilization/people!Trump literally sounds like an unhinged super villain from a Marvel comic movie.”
Former Georgia Republican Rep. and Trump supporter, Marjorie Taylor Greene, implied invoking the 25th Amendment and impeaching Trump for his comments, adding that “not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness,” she posted.
More than 70 Democratic lawmakers also echoed the call to invoke the 25th Amendment, including most members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries scheduled a briefing on the 25th Amendment for his caucus on Friday.
House Democrats on Thursday huddled with reporters to urge their Republican colleagues to back their efforts to remove Trump from office, arguing if a Democratic president had made the same threats, they would do the same.
“They should also be demanding the 25th Amendment. They should be here with us on behalf of the American people. This is not a partisan issue,” Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., said. “Threatening genocide is not a partisan issue. I guarantee you, if it was a Democratic president who threatened genocide, we would all be standing here too, saying the exact same thing.”
Some senators have also joined those calls, noting if the 25th Amendment is not an option, lawmakers should explore options they can take outside of the White House — such as impeachment.
“I certainly think the president should be removed,” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., told reporters on Thursday. “He’s unfit for office. I think the 25th amendment and if not, then impeachment.”
When Trump was asked by a reporter from The New York Times on Monday — prior to his post — if he was worried about what his threats saying he’d bomb Iranian bridges and powerplants could amount to in terms of potential war crimes, Trump replied, “No, no not at all.”
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The Associated Press, “As President Trump has said, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, and the Iranian people welcome the sound of bombs because it means their oppressors are losing. The President will always stand with innocent civilians while annihilating the terrorists responsible for threatening our country and the entire world with a nuclear weapon. Greater destruction can be avoided if the regime understands the seriousness of this moment and makes a deal with the United States.”
In an open letter to the U.S. Government written by international law experts, the writers voiced concern with Trump’s threats to attack nuclear and energy power plants.
“Such a strike could harm the health and safety of millions of civilians,” the letter said. “The civilian harm to be considered includes foreseeable reverberating or indirect harm. In any attack, ‘all feasible precautions’ must be taken to avoid civilian harm.”
Contributing: Cami Mondeaux