U.S. Officials Weigh Campaign Probe Into Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s Personal Spending

Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema left Congress in January 2025 after announcing she would not seek reelection in Arizona. She had been a Democratic member of Congress for most of her career but switched to independent status in 2022.

A group consisting of a Department of Justice Criminal Division official, a prosecutor in the office of former U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, and FBI agents from the Washington Field Office discussed a potential campaign finance investigation into Sinema’s activities in February 2024. The exchanges began following reports about her spending on personal items—including airline tickets, hotels, meals, wineries, ski trips, and travel for her private security detail—while she was not actively campaigning.

A prosecutor in Graves’ office flagged the issue to the DOJ and FBI. In a February 2, 2024 email, then-FBI special agent Walter Giardina wrote: “I’m interested in looking at the Sinema referral if it’s [sic] something you’re looking to assign.”

Sinema’s chief of staff, Daniel Winkler, described the investigation efforts as “disappointing, though not surprising” given that Giardina pursued her for partisan reasons after she defied Biden and Senate Democrats to protect the filibuster. He added: “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, obtained the emails through legally protected whistleblower disclosures. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani noted that criminal charges against sitting members of Congress are rare under current law. He explained: “Under the strict letter of the law, you can’t use campaign funds for personal expenses. The rule is pretty strict—it’s the ‘irrespective test’: Unless the expense only exists because of your campaign or being a federal officeholder, you can’t use campaign funds for it.”