‘Political witch-hunt’: Donald Trump brings his signature legal complaint to Israel and France, and they are not having it

President Donald Trump has taken his criticism of judges and court systems global, with his administration questioning the fairness of judicial systems in countries that are typically allies of the United States. This is a big deal because it’s a major departure from long-standing diplomatic norms, and it’s putting the U.S. in a new role.

Instead of promoting the independent rule of law in other democracies, the U.S. is now known for criticizing them for legitimately prosecuting wrongdoers, per The Washington Post. In the most significant example so far, the Trump administration announced sanctions against a sitting Supreme Court Justice in Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes.

This isn’t just a one-off in Brazil, either. The Trump administration has also cast doubt on high-profile trials in France, Israel, and Britain. In Britain, the State Department went so far as to announce that its diplomats would monitor the trial of a low-level antiabortion protester, and later, the case of a woman sentenced for inciting racial hatred. Jonathan Sumption, a British constitutional expert and former Supreme Court judge, called it “a gross impertinence” but said it hasn’t threatened the legitimacy of the court system.

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It’s not just Israel that Trump can’t stop trying to meddle in. In France, Trump called the trial of far-right leader Marine Le Pen a “witch hunt” after she was convicted of embezzlement and barred from running for political office. Then-Prime Minister François Bayrou accused Trump of interfering. Trump used the same “witch hunt” term in June to describe the prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate cases. Trump called for the trial to be canceled.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also weighed in on X, writing, “Let this be a warning to those who would trample on the fundamental rights of their countrymen—judicial robes cannot protect you”. This is a huge deal, as the Treasury Department used the Magnitsky Act, a human rights law, to sanction a sitting judge in another country, which legal analysts say is a significant expansion of the law.

Trump’s response in Brazil was directed at the case of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a longtime Trump ally. The Brazilian court convicted Bolsonaro of attempting a military coup. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that Moraes was responsible for “an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions”.

Antonio Maués, a professor of constitutional law in Brazil, said these sanctions are a “gross impertinence and a serious breach of the conventions governing relations between states”. He added that sovereignty is the idea that each country decides its own internal questions.

Thomas Carothers, a democracy expert, said it’s a “terrible reversal” of a long-held U.S. tradition. The State Department, for its part, has said the administration is “standing against ‘persecution'” and “condemning the political witch-hunt” against Netanyahu. It’s a lot to take in and shows that the legal battles we’re used to seeing on the home front are now a global affair.