Home / Dossiers / Donald J. Trump
Published by the Commonwealth of Humanity Tribunal on Crimes Against Humanity
Date: May 29, 2026
* * *
This page is an individualized public dossier for one named accused person appearing in the Indictment. It is not yet a complete archive-grade case file. Its purpose is to isolate the present public record strongest for Donald J. Trump by person, office, timeframe, responsibility theory, claim grading, and cited evidence.
Accused
Donald J. Trump -- 45th and 47th President of the United States
Scope of this dossier
This dossier focuses on Trump's second-term official acts in 2025 that are presently easiest to verify from the public record: releasing previously paused heavy bombs to Israel, approving large additional arms packages, and approving further sales under emergency waiver language after the Gaza notice environment had already become severe and public. It does not attempt to prove every allegation in the Indictment or every consequence of the war. It focuses on individualized evidence tied to Trump's renewed presidential authority after 20 January 2025.
Timeframe
The primary period assessed here is 20 January 2025 through 28 February 2025, with later humanitarian material used only to show the public consequence environment still surrounding Gaza during Trump's first months back in office. Earlier judicial and humanitarian records are used here as notice evidence because they were already public when Trump resumed presidential power.
Responsibility theory
This dossier alleges responsibility at the level of President, chief executive, and senior foreign-policy authority supervising U.S. arms-transfer policy and emergency waiver use. It does not assume Trump selected each target in Gaza or controlled Israel's operational chain of command. It asks whether he used restored presidential authority to resume and expand material support for Israel after the public record had already been saturated with judicial warnings, starvation warnings, and documented civilian harm.
Claim grading
Established
Donald J. Trump, after returning to office in January 2025, lifted the hold on a shipment of MK-84 2,000-pound bombs to Israel and his administration approved additional major arms sales to Israel on 7 February 2025 and 28 February 2025. The 28 February approvals expressly invoked emergency waiver language under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act. The public record also establishes that these acts occurred after the ICJ provisional-measures process, famine warnings, and other severe public notice concerning Gaza were already on the record.
Strongly inferred
Trump's decision to restart and expand weapons support despite that notice environment strongly supports the inference that he materially enabled foreseeable further Israeli crimes in Gaza at the level of executive arms-transfer authority, even though the full internal White House, State Department, and Pentagon deliberative record is not public on this page.
Provisional
The further claim that Trump is individually liable under international criminal law for aiding and abetting war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide remains provisional here. Public evidence shows presidential authority, approval, continuity, and notice. It does not by itself fully establish mens rea, the complete internal advisory record, or the full causal chain required for final individualized legal judgment.
Evidence record
Release of previously paused heavy bombs
[A] The Congressional Research Service reported that, in late January 2025, President Trump announced that he had released the Biden administration's hold on delivery of 1,800 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs destined for Israel. The same CRS report states that, at the same time, State Department guidance implementing Trump's foreign-aid freeze exempted Israel from that freeze. This is strong documentary support that the resumed bomb transfer and the exemption from the wider aid freeze were official early Trump-administration acts, not merely media speculation.
Source: Congressional Research Service, U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel: Overview and Developments since October 7, 2023, updated May 28, 2025, congress.gov
[B] Reuters reported on 16 February 2025 that Israel had received a shipment of heavy MK-84 bombs from the United States after Trump lifted the Biden-era block on their export. Reuters also reported Trump's own explanation: that he lifted the hold because he believed in "peace through strength" and because Israel had already purchased the weapons. Used carefully, this is near-primary evidence of Trump's reversal of the bomb hold and of his public rationale for doing so.
Source: Reuters, "Israel receives shipment of heavy bombs cleared by Trump," February 16, 2025. reuters.com
Official February 7, 2025 arms-sale approvals
[A] The Congressional Research Service reported that on 7 February 2025 the Trump administration officially notified Congress of four Foreign Military Sales or Direct Commercial Sales cases to Israel totaling $8.4 billion, including one case totaling $6.75 billion for precision-guided and unguided munitions and guidance conversion kits, which CRS described as the largest single munitions sale to Israel since 2015. CRS further states that, after the presidential transition, the Trump administration proceeded to formal notification even though the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee had not cleared the sale. This supports a broader and more specific chronology than the DSCA notices alone provide.
Source: Congressional Research Service, U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel: Overview and Developments since October 7, 2023, updated May 28, 2025, congress.gov
[A] On 7 February 2025, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency stated that the State Department had approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Israel of munitions, guidance kits, fuzes, and support equipment for an estimated cost of $6.75 billion, and that DSCA delivered the required certification notifying Congress that day. The notice includes JDAM guidance kits for MK-84 bomb bodies, JDAM guidance kits for BLU-109 bomb bodies, thousands of MK 82 bomb bodies, GBU-39 small diameter bombs, and large quantities of fuzes, with deliveries estimated to begin in 2025.
Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, "Israel - Munitions, Guidance Kits, Fuzes, and Munitions Support," February 7, 2025. dsca.mil
[A] The same day, DSCA stated that the State Department had also approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Israel of 3,000 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million, with DSCA again delivering the certification notifying Congress on 7 February 2025. This is direct primary evidence that the Trump administration approved a second major Israel package on the same day.
Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, "Israel - AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles," February 7, 2025. dsca.mil
Official February 28, 2025 emergency-waiver sales
[A] On 28 February 2025, DSCA stated that the Secretary of State approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Israel of munitions, guidance kits, and support for an estimated cost of $675.7 million. The same notice expressly states that the Secretary determined an emergency existed requiring the immediate sale in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act.
Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, "Israel - Munitions, Guidance Kits, and Munitions Support," February 28, 2025. dsca.mil
[A] Also on 28 February 2025, DSCA stated that the Secretary of State approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Israel of munitions and munitions support for an estimated cost of $2.04 billion, including 35,529 MK-84 or BLU-117 general-purpose bomb bodies and 4,000 I-2000 penetrator warheads. This notice also expressly states that an emergency determination was made and that congressional review requirements were waived under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act.
Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, "Israel - Munitions and Munitions Support," February 28, 2025. dsca.mil
[A] A third 28 February 2025 DSCA notice states that the Secretary of State approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Israel of Caterpillar D9 bulldozers and related equipment for an estimated cost of $295 million, again using emergency determination language waiving congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act. This matters because it ties the Trump administration not only to bomb-related packages but also to equipment widely associated with demolition and military engineering operations.
Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, "Israel - Caterpillar D9 Bulldozers," February 28, 2025. dsca.mil
Public notice and humanitarian warning environment
[A] The archived ICC press release of 21 November 2024 states that Pre-Trial Chamber I rejected Israel's jurisdictional challenges and issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The Chamber stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe they bore criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, and that they also bore civilian-superior responsibility for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population. Used precisely, this is not a final adjudication of guilt. It is a powerful part of the notice environment already public before Trump resumed office.
Source: International Criminal Court, "Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel's challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant," November 21, 2024 (archived locally as PDF; original page was access-blocked during direct fetch). icc-cpi.int
[A] The ICJ case record for Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) shows that provisional-measures orders were issued on 26 January, 28 March, and 24 May 2024. Those orders were already public before Trump returned to office, and they are directly relevant to notice because they placed Israel's Gaza campaign under repeated judicial scrutiny concerning aid, civilian protection, and conditions of survival.
Source: International Court of Justice case record, Case 192. icj-cij.org
[A] OCHA's March 2024 humanitarian access snapshot states that famine was imminent in Gaza, that 1.1 million people were facing catastrophic food insecurity, and that only 26 per cent of requested humanitarian food missions in areas requiring coordination with Israeli forces were facilitated in March. It also describes persistent access restrictions and denials by Israeli authorities. This matters here as preexisting notice evidence that remained part of the public record when Trump restarted and expanded support in early 2025.
Source: OCHA OPT, "Humanitarian Access Snapshot - Gaza Strip | 1-31 March 2024," April 6, 2024. ochaopt.org
[A] On 18 March 2024, the World Food Programme said famine in northern Gaza was no longer a remote warning, that 1.1 million people were experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that the crisis was "all manmade." This is high-value public notice evidence for Trump's 2025 decisions because the warning long predated his renewed presidential actions and was still part of the known public context.
Source: World Food Programme, "Hunger in Gaza: Famine findings a 'dark mark' on the world, says WFP Palestine Country Director," March 18, 2024. wfp.org
[A] On 27 May 2025, UNICEF stated that more than 50,000 children had reportedly been killed or injured in Gaza since October 2023 and that 1,309 children had reportedly been killed since the end of the ceasefire on 18 March 2025. Used carefully, this is not proof that Trump caused each later death. It is strong evidence that the child-casualty environment remained catastrophic during the same general period in which his administration had restarted and expanded arms support.
Source: UNICEF, "'Unimaginable horrors': more than 50,000 children reportedly killed or injured in the Gaza Strip," May 27, 2025. unicef.org
Underlying principal-crime record
[A] By the time Trump returned to office, the public record already included the ICC arrest-warrant press release for Netanyahu and Gallant, the ICJ provisional-measures proceedings, famine warnings, and sustained reporting of severe access restriction and civilian harm. That is enough for this page to treat the notice environment as established without claiming that Trump inherited every prior decision or that the public record already resolves final criminal liability. What it does establish is that renewed weapons support in early 2025 did not occur in a context of uncertainty or ignorance about Gaza's humanitarian collapse.
Source: International Criminal Court, November 21, 2024 (archived locally as PDF; original page was access-blocked during direct fetch). icc-cpi.int; Source: International Court of Justice case record, Case 192. icj-cij.org; Source: OCHA OPT, April 6, 2024. ochaopt.org; Source: World Food Programme, March 18, 2024. wfp.org
Continued support after notice
[A] The public sequence is straightforward. After taking office on 20 January 2025, Trump lifted the hold on heavy bombs, and by 7 February and 28 February his administration had approved and notified Congress of several further large Israel arms packages, including packages processed under emergency waiver language. Because the ICJ orders and famine warnings were already public before those dates, continuity of support after acute public notice is established on the face of the record cited here.
Source: Reuters, February 16, 2025. reuters.com; Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, February 7, 2025. dsca.mil; Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, February 28, 2025. dsca.mil
Rebuttals, defenses, and alternative explanations
[A] The official DSCA notices preserve the administration's defense rationale. They repeatedly state that the United States is committed to Israel's security, that the sales are vital to U.S. national interests, that they improve Israel's self-defense capability, and that they serve as deterrence to regional threats. Those claims belong in the record because they are the administration's own stated justification for the sales and emergency waivers.
Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, February 7, 2025 and February 28, 2025 Israel sale notices. dsca.mil; Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency, "Israel - Caterpillar D9 Bulldozers," February 28, 2025. dsca.mil
[B] Reuters also preserves Trump's own public explanation for lifting the bomb hold: that Israel had already contracted for the weapons and that he viewed the release as part of "peace through strength." That explanation does not clear him. Its narrower significance is that it records the rationale he publicly chose to offer rather than leaving motive wholly unstated.
Source: Reuters, "Israel receives shipment of heavy bombs cleared by Trump," February 16, 2025. reuters.com
Evidentiary limits and open questions
This page does not yet include internal White House, NSC, State Department, or Pentagon deliberations; legal advice concerning the emergency waivers; preserved copies of any congressional objections or committee correspondence; a full transfer-by-transfer delivery ledger for 2025; or classified records about intelligence sharing and end-use assessment. It also does not yet include every underlying committee communication, pre-notification document, or delivery execution record referenced or summarized in the archived CRS report.
Those absences matter for the strongest legal conclusions: whether subordinates urged restraint, what Trump was told about likely end use, whether alternative policy options were considered and rejected, and how direct the causal contribution of each approved sale was to later specific attacks. Those evidentiary gaps are a central reason this page keeps individualized international-criminal liability in the provisional category.
Assessment
Established: Trump used restored presidential authority in early 2025 to release previously paused heavy bombs to Israel, approve additional major munitions sales, and approve further sales under emergency waiver language that bypassed ordinary congressional review. The public record also establishes that these acts took place after the ICJ provisional-measures process and after major famine and civilian-harm warnings concerning Gaza were already public.
Strongly inferred: the public record strongly supports the inference that Trump materially enabled foreseeable further Israeli crimes in Gaza by renewing and escalating military support after the notice environment had already become acute, even though the public record does not disclose every internal advisory discussion, delivery detail, or causal link to later specific attacks.
Provisional: the further claim that Trump is individually liable for aiding and abetting war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide should remain open to additional proof and challenge until a fuller record exists concerning intent, legal advice, classified support, causal contribution, and contrary evidence.
Source preservation notes
This public page cites source URLs but does not yet prove full archive-grade preservation. A complete case file should retain copies, retrieval dates, hashes where available, and screenshots or transcripts as derivatives rather than originals.
Status
This page is an example public dossier. It should be expanded, challenged, corrected, and preserved if the Commonwealth develops a fuller case-file system.