Tom Minear: Why the US needs its own anti-corruption commission

As Donald Trump and Joe Biden face corruption allegations, Tom Minear wonders why the US relies on tainted agencies and biased legislators instead of an independent watchdog.

Up until July 1, when the National Anti-Corruption Commission started its work, its absence was generally considered an obvious oversight.

Scott Morrison’s failure to create the agency was a mistake Anthony Albanese exploited and rectified. Even so, despite the former PM’s dithering over the model, the pair agreed on the principle: corruption should be independently investigated.

Here in the US, this is the elephant not in the room. Amid the blizzard of claims against Donald Trump and Joe Biden, I have not once heard it suggested that these inherently political allegations would best be examined by a new watchdog independent of politics.

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese. Photo: News Corp Australia

It would be a radical reform, given the three branches of government are supposed to check each other’s power, but it is American exceptionalism at its worst to ignore this system’s decay.

The root of this is Trump’s unprecedented misconduct. As I have argued before, he must be prosecuted to uphold the rule of law. But it is a mistake for Democrats to cheer the charges against him while overlooking the damage to norms and institutions.

Republicans no longer trust that the Justice Department operates independently of the president, when it charges Trump while fumbling its investigation of Biden’s son Hunter.

Putting aside the false equivalence between these cases, the double standard in how they have been handled – though no fault of Biden’s – has emboldened Trump to vow to prosecute him if he returns to power. Republicans also want to demolish the FBI, even though they abhor efforts to defund the police.

(FILES) US President Joe Biden, with son Hunter Biden, arrives at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, on February 4, 2023. The US Justice Department on Friday escalated its investigation into President Joe Biden's son Hunter, naming a special counsel amid allegations he engaged in illicit business deals overseas. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Delaware federal prosecutor David Weiss, who recently investigated Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges in a case that remains open. Weiss, who opened his probe in 2019, recently revealed that he was investigating Biden along other lines, and Garland said Weiss had requested special counsel status to be able to pursue his probe more widely. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

It was therefore no surprise last week that congressional Republicans launched an inquiry into the President that will inevitably lead to a vote to impeach him. For what, exactly, remains unclear. But this is the best tool at their disposal to bruise Biden ahead of his likely election rematch with Trump next year.

While the criminal trials of Trump are legitimate, far more so than the political show trial of Biden, his supporters seem unlikely to accept any verdicts that don’t go his way. This should alarm the Democrats, and indeed anyone with an interest in preserving democracy.

It is surely therefore in everyone’s interests for allegations of political corruption to be examined by an independent arbiter, not obviously biased legislators and unfortunately tainted government agencies.

The fact that no one is calling for such a change suggests Republicans and Democrats alike believe they are favoured by the scandal-plagued status quo. In truth, it discredits them all.

Originally published as Tom Minear: Why the US needs its own anti-corruption commission