A bipartisan group of Senators called out the Department of Defense for allegedly holding up a global investigation into alleged war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It comes after the Senate voted in December to allow the United States government to share intelligence with the International Criminal Court. However, military leaders have reportedly remained opposed to complying.
On Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was joined by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; in accusing the department of impeding the probe.
It started when Graham publicly rebuked the department during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday. All four senators sit on the panel, with Durbin as chair and Graham as ranking member.
"The Department of Justice has been great; the Department of Defense has been terrible," Graham said while questioning Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
"The reservations of the Department of Defense are holding back the transfer of information that would be vital to allowing the ICC to be more aggressive in prosecutions," he added.
Whitehouse then jumped in to agree with Graham after the South Carolina senator reiterated his position that "the law we passed should be honored," regardless of the department's concerns.
"I wholeheartedly endorse his pressure on you to sort it out within the administration," Whitehouse stated. "Whatever is blocking cooperation with the International Criminal Court needs to be corrected so the administration is in compliance with the law that Congress passed. To me, it's simple as that."
Graham and Durbin had teamed up last month in sending a letter to the Biden administration urging complete acquiescence with the new law.
"The United States is on the right side of this war, and we must do everything possible to hold the perpetrators accountable," the pair wrote alongside other committee members.
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