WASHINGTON — Officials in President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice and FBI considered opening a criminal investigation into then-Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) for purported campaign finance law violations months after she left the Democratic Party, according to emails reviewed by The Post.
The communications reveal that a member of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, a prosecutor in then-DC US Attorney Matthew Graves’ office and FBI agents in the bureau’s Washington Field Office all discussed investigating Sinema in February 2024, 14 months after she announced her change in party affiliation.
Sinema’s chief of staff, Daniel Winkler, expressed concern when reached for comment that the probe was pursued for “partisan political reasons,” including punishing the former senator for refusing to support scrapping the 60-vote legislative filibuster.
The email exchanges began in response to The Post’s Feb. 1, 2024, report on Sinema’s six-figure campaign spending on a security detail, luxury hotels, cars, and concert tickets — with a prosecutor in Graves’ office flagging the story to the DOJ and FBI.
Over the following week, then-Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Aloi discussed probing Sinema for potential violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) with then-FBI special agent Walter Giardina — with the G-man saying he wanted to take up the matter.
“I’m interested in looking at the Sinema referral if its [sic] something you’re looking to assign,” wrote Giardina to a bureau colleague in a Feb. 2, 2024, email.
Giardina had assisted in the FBI’s controversial Arctic Frost probe, led by former special counsel Jack Smith, that targeted hundreds of Republican groups and individuals.
The communications also show that the feds had previously considered ordering the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section to investigate Sinema’s campaign spending — an attempt that was also unsuccessful.
“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. “Giardina’s pathetic attempts led nowhere, his abuse of power is now exposed to the public, and the filibuster stands strong today.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) first obtained the FBI and DOJ correspondence from legally protected whistleblower disclosures.
Sinema ultimately chose not to seek re-election as an indepdent and was succeeded in the Senate by Democrat Ruben Gallego.
Her campaign spent $796,565 on hotels, a new car, and concert tickets, as well as $265,521 on security costs, according to the 2023 Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings reported by The Post — outpacing her fundraising by nearly $200,000.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said it was “very rare” to pursue criminal charges against a sitting member of Congress under FECA unless it’s “a George Santos-type case” — though in that case, the Long Island Republican copped to more serious wire fraud charges.
“Under the strict letter of the law, you can’t use campaign funds for personal expenses,” Rahmani said.
“The rule is pretty strict. It’s the ‘irrespective test’: Unless the expense only exists because of your campaign or you being a federal officeholder, you can’t use campaign funds for it,” he explained.
“If you’re going to lunch with someone related to your office, you can use those [campaign] funds — but they’re strict when it comes to things like travel, clothing and food,” he said.
Asked whether he believed the investigation targeted Sinema due to her changing her party affiliation, Rahmani answered: “It shouldn’t, but there’s no line between law and politics now.”
Aloi and Giardina ultimately chose not to pursue any investigation on Feb. 9, eight days after The Post’s initial report.
“Walter, I understand that you are likely to be assigned to the Kyrsten Sinema FECA case if we open on it,” the prosecutor wrote.
Aloi revealed that the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division had also already tried to bring an investigation previously, but there wasn’t “much to open on.”
“Happy to discuss and be persuaded otherwise. Let me know if you want to chat,” she told Giardina.
By the end of the same day, neither wanted to move forward with a formal investigation — despite having indicated they would talk next week about preliminary findings.
“Just spoke with Liz Aloi – they’re going to pass on opening. I reviewed open source, FEC, and FBI
holdings to see if there was anything more without success,” Giardina told his then-supervisor, Blaire Toleman.
All three have since left their federal government positions. Aloi was demoted in February and subsequently departed the US Attorney’s Office. Trump’s FBI Director Kash Patel fired Giardina in August and Toleman in November.
Both were involved in the investigations of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters as part of the broader Arctic Frost probe into hundreds of Republican individuals and groups believed to be linked to 2020 election interference efforts.
Aloi helped prosecute cases involving the rioters as well.
Giardina also was part of a team that coordinated with Biden’s DOJ to bring contempt of Congress charges against Peter Navarro.
The White House trade adviser refused to testify before the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot and was handed a four-month federal prison sentence last year.
Reps for the DOJ, FBI, Aloi and Giardina did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
