Scandal: A series examining corruption in leadership and its downstream consequences.
The U.S. is leaving GRECO, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption watchdog, after the State Department said membership offered too little benefit. GRECO had urged Washington to tighten rules on presidential conflicts of interest, lobbying and FBI integrity, and its public record shows no completed U.S. compliance review before the withdrawal was announced.
The Trump administration is ending the United States’ 26-year membership in the Council of Europe’s principal anti-corruption monitoring body, withdrawing from a system in which participating governments examine one another’s safeguards against abuses of public power.
The administration notified the Council of Europe in late September that the United States would leave the Group of States against Corruption, known as GRECO. American membership, which began in 2000, is scheduled to end Dec. 31. Only Russia and Belarus had previously left the organization.
The State Department said participation required an annual contribution while providing no “tangible benefits to U.S. national security,” and said it preferred what it called higher-impact tools, including sanctions, visa restrictions and targeted assistance for foreign corruption investigations.
GRECO operates differently. It does not prosecute cases or compel changes to American law. Member governments examine one another’s anti-corruption safeguards, issue recommendations and later assess whether those recommendations were carried out.
Its most recent review of the United States, adopted in 2023, examined what GRECO calls “top executive functions” and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The organization credited the United States with a substantial integrity framework, including ethics laws, inspectors general and the Office of Government Ethics. But it also identified gaps at the highest levels of government, noting that the president and vice president are exempt from many statutory and regulatory conflict-of-interest and integrity rules that apply to other executive officials.
GRECO issued 15 recommendations. It urged the United States to require presidents and vice presidents to relinquish outside positions and divest assets that could create conflicts of interest, or place them in qualified trusts. It also called for more durable ethics restrictions, greater disclosure of contacts between senior officials and lobbyists, tighter rules governing officials who move between government and private employment, and stronger safeguards for FBI whistleblowers.
GRECO directed Washington to report by June 30, 2025, on the measures it had taken. But GRECO’s published Fifth Round registry lists no subsequent compliance assessment for the United States. The organization’s published materials reviewed for this article also do not disclose whether Washington submitted the underlying report.
“Laws are like spiders’ webs; the big flies get through, while the little ones are caught.”
— Honoré de Balzac, The Firm of Nucingen (1838)
Scandal examines political misconduct, institutional failure, elite impunity and the systems that allow powerful people to escape accountability.
Premium members get full access to Scandal, History of the Present, One Person, One Vote, Reality Check, Thoughts & Ideas, The Cost of Money and Bits & Bytes — plus early access to major investigations, essays, briefings, discussions and events.
The first 1,000 subscribers will be permanently recognized as Founding Members of The Intellectualist.
Know Earlier. Understand Deeper.
Save 33% on your first year.
