Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Admits to Affair with Bodyguard as His Ex-Wife Seeks More Than $75K in Damages

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• Former Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema admitted to having an affair with her former bodyguard, Matthew Ammel, in a bid to dismiss Ammel’s ex-wife’s lawsuit.

• Heather Ammel filed a lawsuit against Sinema in January under North Carolina’s alienation of affection law, claiming that Sinema “intentionally and knowingly” seduced her husband of 14 years.

• Sinema’s motion argues that because she and Matthew never had a romantic relationship in North Carolina, she cannot be sued there.

Old Sen. Kyrsten Cinema She admitted to having an affair with her former bodyguard, Matthew Ammel, in a petition filed Thursday to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Matthew’s ex-wife, Heather Ammel.

Heather filed a lawsuit against Sinema in September 2025 in North Carolina, where the Ammel family lives. in accordance with the state law on alienation of affectionThis allows rejected spouses to take legal action against a third party for interfering with the marriage. The lawsuit accuses Sinema and Matthew of “repeated sexual contact” while Matthew was married to Heather and more than $75,000 in damages.

Heather accused Sinema of “deliberately and deliberately” seducing her husband despite knowing he was married with three children. Heather and Matthew split after 14 years of marriage in 2024, shortly after joining the cast of Cinema. Later in January, Heather filed for divorce.

under oath declaration On Thursday, Sinema said the relationship between her and Matthew “became romantic and intimate” in late May 2024. “On May 27, 2024, while Mr. Ammel was guarding security for me in Sonoma, CA, we became physically intimate for the first time,” she said. “We then became physically intimate in mid-June in New York City, NY, mid-July in Washington, DC, late August in Aspen, CO, late September in Washington DC, and early October in Phoenix, AZ.”

However, since Sinema, an independent who represented Arizona in the Senate for six years, and Matthew are not physically close to each other in North Carolina, Heather cannot sue Sinema in North Carolina. movement It was filed Thursday by Sinema’s attorney, Steven B. Epstein.

He asks the court to dismiss the case “due to lack of personal jurisdiction.”

Sinema’s motion to dismiss also challenges allegations in Heather’s initial filing, arguing that “100%” of her phone and email communications with Matthew while they were romantically involved “occurred while Mr. Ammel was physically present outside of North Carolina.”

“Plaintiff bases his jurisdictional claim on romantic phone calls and electronic messages that he claims Defendant initiated with Mr. Ammel while he was in North Carolina. However, the evidence refutes her allegations,” the motion states. “During the relevant period, Mr. Ammel was traveling outside of North Carolina for at least three different jobs, all but a few days a month. Defendant documents every phone call and email communication she had with him, none of which occurred while he was in North Carolina.”

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Heather’s attorney, Thomas Van Camp, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The lawsuit, filed in January, cataloged other examples that Heather said showed a relationship between Sinema and Matthew that “exceeded the boundaries of a normal working relationship”; this includes an allegation that Sinema once suggested Matthew, a former military man, take MDMA on a business trip to alleviate his post-traumatic stress disorder. Sinema said in a statement on Thursday that she “did not remember” the suggestion.

A 2018 House resolution bans members of Congress from having sexual relations with their staff, but the Senate has no such restrictions.

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