(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Officials in the Biden-led DOJ and FBI considered launching a criminal investigation into then-Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, after she left the Democratic Party and became an Independent, the New York Post reported Friday.
The potential probe, discussed in internal FBI emails roughly 14 months after Sinema broke with Democrats, would have centered on a 2024 New York Post report on her use of campaign funds for what appeared to be personal expenses.
At the time, the Post reported that in 2023, Sinema paid for security, luxury hotels, cars and a concert.
According to the Post, the matter was raised in 2024 by a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., which at the time was led by Biden appointee Matthew Graves.
Sinema was one of the two senators who repeatedly blocked major Biden-era legislation and resisted Democratic efforts to abolish the filibuster.
The prosecutor reportedly flagged the Post’s reporting and forwarded it to officials at both the DOJ and the FBI.
Then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi weighed investigating Sinema for purported violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Walter Giardina, a former FBI agent who participated in then-special prosecutor Bob Mueller’s probe and prosecutions of Peter Navarro and President Donald Trump, appeared receptive to pursuing the case.
Tellingly, Giardina was among the top FBI officials fired by Trump’s FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this year.
“I’m interested in looking at the Sinema referral if its [sic] something you’re looking to assign,” Giardina wrote to an FBI colleague on Feb. 2, 2024, according to the Post.
The emails also revealed that the Biden administration had previously considered directing the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section to probe Sinema’s senatorial campaign.
This attempt was “unsuccessful,” according to the outlet.
In response, Sinema’s chief of staff Daniel Winkler said the attempted probe was driven by partisan politics.
“It’s disappointing, though not surprising, to learn that Walter Giardina, who led politically motivated investigations at the FBI, also sought to investigate Kyrsten for partisan political reasons after she defied Biden and the Senate Democrats to protect the filibuster,” Winkler said, as quoted by the Post.
“Giardina’s pathetic attempts led nowhere, his abuse of power is now exposed to the public, and the filibuster stands strong today,” he added.
Sinema entered the Senate as a Democrat in 2019, replacing former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake. She left office on Jan. 3, 2025, after declining to seek re-election.
