Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has confounded Democrats over budget talks – even while boasting about using her cleavage to reel in ‘uptight’ Republicans, according to a new book.
Sinema, a weight-lifter and fitness buff, regularly draws attention in the buttoned-down Senate hallways with her eclectic fashion choices.
But she has also developed ways to contend with Republicans in the minority, according to This Will Not Pass, a new book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.
Despite being more ‘discomfiting’ to the White House than any Democrat in the 50-50 Senate, Sinema had relationships across the political aisle. The former House member, who is the first bisexual member of the Senate, ‘joked with Democrats about how easy it was for her to charm Republican men,’ according to the book.
‘Sinema, a fitness enthusiast who was 36 when she entered Congress, boasted knowingly to colleagues and aides that her cleavage had an extraordinary persuasive effect on the uptight men of the GOP. She told one House Republican that while she would never switch parties, her father would be delighted if she did,’ the authors write.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) ‘boasted knowingly to colleagues and aides that her cleavage had an extraordinary persuasive effect on the uptight men of the GOP,’ according to a new book
The book also delves into President Joe Biden’s governing woes – including prolonged talks with Sinema, whom the authors dub an ‘aloof Arizonan.’ She became a progressive nemesis when she and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) wouldn’t go along with Biden’s multi-trillion proposals, although she did cheer his infrastructure plan.
After Biden signed the infrastructure bill, Sinema asked Biden’s aides not to send the president to her home state for a ‘victory lap,’ even though he had won Arizona in 2020. White House aides were concluding she was ‘simply a difficult person.’
The book describes one early 2021 dinner with Senate Republicans after the election where where the Republicans asked Sinema to join – and she requested to be able to enter through a back door to avoid being seen.
She has won praise from Republicans for her opposition to changing the Senate filibuster, and a line of Republicans congratulated her on the Senate floor after voting with the GOP on a move to advance the Democratic leadership backed voting rights legislation.
The book, which grabbed headlines with revelations about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, also contains details about former President Donald Trump and his election overturn effort.
Sinema confounded Democrats during months-long negotiations
Sinema previously served in the House. Here, she and Trey Hollingsworth, R-Ind., talk before a House Financial Services Committee hearing in 2018
Sinema asked Biden’s aides not to send the president to her home state for a ‘victory lap’ after Biden signed the infrastructure bill, according to the book
Trump’s belief that he could prevail extended well after the time he left the White House and decamped to Mar-a-Lago.
And it wasn’t just Donald Trump’s most passionate adherents who believed in the ‘reinstatement’ myth – the former President himself was saying last spring he would be reinstalled within months, the book reveals.
Trump stated his belief in the theory in May of 2021, four months after leaving office, according to the book.
The idea of a Trump reinstatement was being promoted at the time by My Pillow exec Mike Lindell and QAnon adherents, although it would ultimately be believed by nearly a third of Republicans in a June Politico / Morning Consult survey.
Trump phoned National Review editor Rich Lowry to tell him that the magazine ‘would take off like a rocket if it recognized that he had actually won the election,’ according to the book.
‘In fact, Trump told Lowry, he expected to be reinstated by August, and Republicans would be put back in charge of the Senate once the supposedly pervasive corruption of the 2020 election was exposed.’
Former President Donald Trump told columnist Rich Lowry in May 2021 he expected to be reinstated within months, according to a new book
The Senate had flipped to Democratic control in 2000 after two Democratic wins in Georgia.
There is no provision in the Constitution for ‘reinstatement’ once election results have been certified by the states and Congress has counted the electoral votes and the president and lawmakers have been sworn into office.
(Lowry may have been an odd target for Trump’s lobbying. He had called the Capitol riot in a Jan. 6th column a ‘disgrace,’ where he wrote that ‘one point of the riot was to further pressure Pence (“Hang Mike Pence!”), but much of the lobbying took place behind closed doors, among Trump’s advisers.’)
Trump also took a shot at now Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. ‘It was beyond belief, Trump said, that Mitch McConnell did not seem to understand this,’ according to the book.
‘The president’s comments were pure madness,’ the authors write.
Congress ultimately counted the votes certified by the states following the Capitol riot. Joe Biden took the oath Jan. 20th after Trump left the White House
Trump has been spending time at Mar-a-Lago and holding rallies around the country while dangling the possibility of a return to the White House
There have been multiple reports on Trump’s interest in getting ‘reinstated.’
After Trump withdrew his endorsement of Alabama GOP Rep. Mo Brooks, Brooks released a statement saying Trump had approached him with the idea.
‘President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency,’ Brooks said in a statement.
‘As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period,’ he added.
‘I’ve told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement. But I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man.’
Trump took back his endorsement in the Alabama Senate primary, citing Brooks’ call for people to put the 2020 election ‘behind you.’
Lindell, who was advised Trump inside the White House in the last days of his presidency, has also repeatedly touted the idea.
Other passages in the book reveal how Vice President Kamala Harris quickly learned not to come between President Biden and his negotiations with Congress.
The authors recount one episode where the president snapped at her so harshly even Republican senators in the meeting were shocked.
In a meeting last May, Biden tried to persuade Republican lawmakers to support $1 trillion in infrastructure spending.
And while Biden was ready for a compromise, Harris thought the bill was skimpy.
‘Harris thought that there was something missing from the conversation,’ according to the book.
She began turning the conversation toward Democratic priorities, including family and social spending, which were originally included in the larger Build Back Better bill.
She ‘began to make the case for a larger package than the one Republicans seemed to have in mind.’
‘Biden dismissed her comment immediately,’ the authors wrote, in so harsh a tone ‘that even the Republican senators were taken aback.’
Biden was typically ‘scrupulously respectful’ of his second-in-command, but the moment revealed that infrastructure negotiations were his and his alone.