Congress
Sinema lands at Hogan Lovells
Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the centrist dealmaker who wielded virtually unilateral veto power over the Biden administration’s legislative agenda, has landed on K Street.
The Arizona Democrat-turned-independent is joining the law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells, where she will serve as a senior counsel in the global regulatory and intellectual property practice, the firm announced Monday.
Sinema said in an interview that she will not register to lobby, but instead will advise businesses across industries “understand, anticipate and influence the shifting regulatory landscape” and help them “navigate the intersection of business and government.”
The hire marks a jackpot for the firm, given Sinema’s intimate involvement in shaping some of the most significant pieces of legislation of the last four years, including the Inflation Reduction Act, bipartisan infrastructure law and the CHIPS and Science Act, in addition to landmark gun control and marriage equality legislation and a scrapped border security bill.
Sinema, a former member of the Senate Banking, Commerce, Appropriations, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security committees, told PI she’ll be working mostly with clients in industries where she’s long “had interest and expertise,” including AI and technology, fintech, crypto and private equity. She said she was drawn to Hogan Lovells because of the firm’s growing global regulatory practice and its focus on leading-edge industries in the tech space.
Though her new role is Sinema’s most significant step into the influence industry since leaving office earlier this year, it isn’t her first. In January, Sinema joined the global advisory council at crypto exchange Coinbase alongside Chris LaCivita, President Donald Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager. Sinema also formed the Arizona Business Roundtable, which retained Mehlman Consulting in January to lobby on tax issues.
Sinema was known as a reliable ally of the business community during her time in the Senate. She voted against several of former President Joe Biden’s labor nominees and opposed increasing the federal minimum wage, provoking the ire of the Democratic base.
Sinema also single-handedly rescued the carried interest loophole during IRA negotiations — a tax provision that proponents in private equity, real estate and venture capital are once again gearing up to protect.
“I’ve really focused on helping people solve complex challenges and problems, bringing unlikely people together in a room to find unlikely outcomes,” Sinema said of her record as a legislator, which spanned 12 years in Congress and nearly a decade in the Arizona legislature.
Even though Sinema’s retirement coincided with the exits of several other centrist dealmakers in Congress, “there’s always opportunities for bipartisan action,” she contended. “It’s really about providing a perspective that allows people to see the benefit for them in engaging in those trust-based relationships, and providing a pathway that makes it reasonable and beneficial for people to do that work.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is in the Capitol meeting with holdout GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiania as he tries to lock down their support for his confirmation as permanent leader of the Justice Department.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) declined to respond directly Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to denounce his former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller over abuse accusations leveled by Moreno’s daughter: “These aren’t accusations in my world,” he said.
“In my world, this is the reality,” Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. “This is not something that is theoretical to me. This is my lived reality of my daughter and my family every single solitary day.”
In an interview with Dasha Burns for Blue Light News’s The Conversation, Johnson declined to take sides in the dispute between Miller (R-Ohio) and Emily Moreno. He called for a House Ethics probe to “play out.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s expected choice for Army chief of staff faces resistance that could imperil his confirmation, according to the chair of the panel that needs to approve it.
Senate Armed Services head Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Wednesday that he was aware of “some opposition within the committee” to acting Army chief of staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve taking the job on a permanent basis.
LaNeve, previously Hegseth’s senior military aide, was confirmed as Army vice chief of staff in January. But he has also served as acting chief of staff since April when Hegseth forced out popular Gen. Randy George, a move that drew widespread criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
Wicker said he was “not able to predict right now” if lawmakers could address concerns about LaNeve. He did not specify whether the concerns were raised by Republicans, but GOP resistance is likely given that nominees could advance through the committee on a party-line vote.
LaNeve has only held the position of four-star general for six months, an anomaly for the the senior most Army officer.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about Republican opposition to LaNeve, citing Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) concerns about his lack of experience at the four-star rank.
Ernst, in an interview, did not dispute that she was the source of the holdup. But she called it a moot point as President Donald Trump has not yet formally nominated LaNeve to the position. And she disputed reports that LaNeve’s lack of experience was the sticking point.
“I don’t think that time and grade has anything to do with leadership ability, so I don’t know how that came about, honestly.” she said. “That’s not what I’ve told anyone.”
If the opposition continues, Trump could decide to leave LeNeve in the acting position indefinitely.
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