Six Republicans voted against a Wednesday House of Representatives bill regarding sharing war crime evidence against Russia. Five of them expressed concern it would pave the way for future charges against U.S. military, or lead to a single global government.
Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) reportedly said she mistakenly voted against the bill and will inform the House clerk that she meant to vote for it. Rep. Cheney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) bucked bipartisanship to vote against the bill powered by reaction to allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials reportedly found bodies of executed civilians lying in the streets and hundreds of people were reportedly buried in mass graves.
The measure — HR7276 — approved by the House would specifically require outlining U.S. processes to collect and preserve evidence of war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration would be required by the bill to submit a report to Congress about the process for international courts or tribunals to request information from the U.S. about war crimes in Ukraine.
“Yesterday I took a vote on a bill that would have allowed us to catalog and investigate war crimes in the Ukraine,” Rep. Biggs reportedly said adding the U.S. should be doing that. “On the other hand, we should not be giving our information over to the International Criminal Court, and this bill indicated that’s where it was going to go.”
“I do not support affiliating ourselves with the multilateral institutionalist court, the International Criminal Court,” he added, “That’s why I voted no here.”
Rep. Greene Thursday told “The Hill” in a statement she opposed the legislation because it would give authority and information to the International Joint Commission and ICC.
“The bill would hand over authority and our intelligence to the ICJ and ICC – international courts that could put our military on trial,” the Georgia congresswoman said. “I will not vote for globalism and the slow slide to become a one-world government. I will only vote to protect America, our military, and our borders.”
Massie Thursday posted on Twitter he opposed the bill because language in the legislation could lead to “spurious war crimes charges” against American service members for military mistakes.
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