The White House refused to support proposed sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the international tribunal requested arrest warrants for Israeli officials for alleged ‘war crimes’ as the country fights the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. 

‘We don’t believe that sanctions against the ICC is the right approach here, no,’ said National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby during a White House press briefing on Tuesday.

He said the Biden administration does not ‘believe the ICC has jurisdiction’ and doesn’t support the arrest warrants requested against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The ICC requested the warrants alongside similar ones for Hamas’ leaders; the organization accuses both Israeli and Hamas leaders of committing ‘war crimes.’

Despite objecting to the ICC’s move, Kirby said the Biden administration doesn’t think ‘sanctioning the ICC is the answer.’

The White House’s stance on potential sanctions comes as both the House and Senate make policy recommendations to respond to the ICC.

Last week, a bipartisan group led by Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., advised visa bans for ICC officials and sanctions on the international body. The group included Democrat Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., John Fetterman, D-Penn., and Bob Casey, D-Penn.

The introduced Senate provision also sought to formally reject the actions of the ICC.

In the House, Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Brian Mast, R-Fla., have introduced a measure that would force the president to implement sanctions against the ICC if the court goes after U.S. allies, such as Israel, which are not in its jurisdiction.

According to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., ‘There are ongoing discussions, as I understand it, between Chairman (Michael) McCaul (R-Texas) and ranking member Gregory Meeks, (D-N.Y.), and the objective is trying to reach bipartisan consensus with respect to the International Criminal Court.’ 

However, with the White House ruling out sanctions, it’s unclear whether any actions will be taken by the U.S. in response to the ICC.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

The framework a Manhattan jury will use to consider the charges against former President Trump and reach a verdict will be revealed by Judge Juan Merchan on Wednesday.  

The instructions will be issued nearly a week after they were initially set for release. It comes after weeks of speculation about the specific violations the jury will need to determine when weighing the charges of falsifying business records in the first degree against the former president. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts. 

The jury instructions are expected to come after a full day of closing arguments were delivered by New York prosecutors and Trump defense attorneys. 

Prosecutors needed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic performer, in the lead-up to the 2016 election to silence her about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. The former president has maintained his innocence.

Court will resume on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. for jury instructions. 

Defense attorneys for former President Trump told the jury Tuesday he is innocent, did not commit any crimes and that Bragg ‘did not meet the burden of proof. Period.’ 

‘President Trump is innocent. He did not commit any crimes. The district attorney did not meet the burden of proof. Period,’ Blanche said. 

Blanche added that the case is ‘simple’ and it is ‘not a guilty verdict.’ 

‘This case is about documents; it is a paper case,’ Blanche said. ‘This case is not about an encounter with Stormy Daniels 18 years ago. It is not even about a nondisclosure agreement signed eight years ago.’

Blanche said the charges are about whether Trump ‘had anything’ to do with payments to his ex-attorney, Michael Cohen, on his personal accounting ledger.

‘The answer? The bookings were accurate and there was no intent to defraud and there was no conspiracy to influence the 2016 election,’ Blanche said. ‘The proof doesn’t add up.’

Blanche told the jury they cannot convict Trump based on Cohen’s testimony, recalling how Trump’s ex-attorney ‘took the stand and then lied.’

‘The records are not false and there was no intent to defraud,’ he said.

Blanche said not one single invoice was sent to Trump directly and that Cohen billed Trump ‘for services rendered.’ He also told the jury Cohen rendered services as Trump’s personal attorney in 2017.

The defense lawyer said that even if the amount of work was minimal, there was a retainer agreement, which he explained is ‘how retainer agreements work.’ Blanche said Cohen was ‘on call for President Trump.’

Blanche also explained that checks to Cohen were not signed by Trump. 

‘You can’t convict President Trump,’ he said. ‘Because sometimes President Trump looked at the invoices … that is a stretch and that is reasonable doubt.’

Blanche also blasted the prosecution’s ‘star witness’ Michael Cohen, saying ‘he is the human embodiment of reasonable doubt.’

‘He lied to you repeatedly … he is biased and motivated,’ Blanche said, adding that the jury should want a witness to tell the truth.

‘Michael Cohen is the GLOAT,’ Blanche said. ‘He is the greatest liar of all time … his words cannot be trusted … all those lies, put them to the side for just a moment, that is enough to walk away.’  

Blanche noted Cohen had lied to both Houses of Congress, federal judges, state judges and family.

‘You cannot send someone to prison based upon the words of Michael Cohen,’ Blanche said, adding that a verdict needs to be reached based on evidence from documents and witnesses. ‘If you do that, this is a very quick and easy not-guilty verdict.’ 

Meanwhile, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass delivered his closing argument for more than five hours Tuesday, saying the prosecution has presented ‘powerful’ evidence in their case against Trump. 

Steinglass said Trump’s intent to defraud ‘could not be any clearer,’ arguing that it would have been far easier for him to pay Stormy Daniels directly. Instead, the prosecutor said, he concocted an elaborate scheme and everything he and his cohorts did was ‘cloaked in lies.’

‘The name of the game was concealment and all roads lead inescapably to the man who benefited the most: the defendant, former President Donald Trump,’ Steinglass said.

Steinglass defended the prosecution’s use of Michael Cohen as a witness, telling the jury: ‘I’m not asking you to feel bad for Michael Cohen. He made his bed.’ 

‘But you can hardly blame him for making money from the one thing he has left, which is his knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump Organization,’ he said. 

‘We didn’t choose Michael Cohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store,’ Steinglass said. ‘The defendant chose Michael Cohen to be his fixer because he was willing to lie and cheat on the defendant’s behalf.’ 

Wrapping up his five-hour presentation, Steinglass, echoing an infamous Trump line, said: ‘Donald Trump can’t shoot someone on Fifth Avenue at rush hour and get away with it.’ 

The comment prompted an objection from Trump’s lawyer, which was sustained.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels and is seeking to have economic sanctions imposed over the Islamic nation’s controversial nuclear program lifted in exchange for slowing the program down, according to a United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.

A report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) obtained by the Associated Press said that as of May 11, Iran had 313.2 pounds of uranium enriched up to 60% — an increase of 45.4 pounds since the last report by the U.N. watchdog in February. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

According to the IAEA, around 92.5 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% is the amount needed to theoretically create one atomic weapon if the uranium is enriched to 90%. IAEA head Rafael Grossi has stated in the past that Iran has enough enriched uranium for ‘several’ nuclear weapons.

The report also says that Iran’s enriched uranium supply as of May 11 was 1,3671.5 pounds, an increase of 1,489.8 pounds since the IAEA’s previous report.

Last week in Helsinki, Grossi said he was putting the IAEA’s talks with Iran on hold while the country deals with the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Reuters reported. 

‘But once this is over, we are going to be engaging again,’ he said, according to Reuters, noting that the pause is just a ‘temporary interruption that I hope will be over in a matter of days.’

Tensions have grown between Iran and the IAEA since 2018, when then-President Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Since then, Iran has abandoned all limits the deal put on its program and quickly stepped up enrichment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.