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Van Jones On Sinema: ‘She’s Not An Independent, She’s An Enigma’

[Screenshot CNN]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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CNN’s Van Jones said Friday that Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is “an enigma” after the senator announced she is leaving the Democratic Party.

Sinema said she would leave the Democratic Party and register as an Independent, explaining that she was rejecting “party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington and formally registering as an Arizona Independent.”

Jones first took a jab at Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who has worked alongside Sinema on several occasions. In May, the pair introduced bipartisan legislation to help small businesses by exempting them from “complex federal audit requirements.” (RELATED: White House Reacts To Sinema No Longer Being A Democrat)

“Look, when you’re getting praised by Tom Cotton, who is horrible for LGBTQ rights, horrible on basic justice issues, horrible on every issue, I don’t think that’s great for people in Arizona to hear her being praised that way,” Jones said.

“I agree with her, these parties are difficult to navigate, but I would have more confidence she means what she says if she were consistent in what her actual values are, what her priorities are,” Jones continued. “She’s not an independent, she’s an enigma. That’s very, very different.”

Jones added that if Sinema continues to caucus with Democrats and support Democratic leadership “it doesn’t change Joe Biden’s hand as much as you think.”

Sinema has drawn flak from fellow Democrats in the past for refusing to back changes to the filibuster and helping to sink a more expansive version of Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

“Bipartisan compromise is seen as a rarely acceptable last resort, rather than the best way to achieve lasting progress,” Sinema wrote in a Friday op-ed explaining her decision to become an independent. “Payback against the opposition party has replaced thoughtful legislating.”