Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema fesses up to romance with married bodyguard while in office

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema admitted to an affair with a member of her security detail — a romantic relationship that began while she was in office.

But she also argued in a legal filing that she should not be subject to a lawsuit by the bodyguard’s ex-wife.

The Arizona Democrat-turned-independent, who served in the Senate from 2019 to 2025, acknowledged her relationship with Matthew Ammel in a motion to dismiss an “alienation of affection” lawsuit filed in North Carolina by Heather Ammel.

Ms. Sinema acknowledged that the intramarital affair with her former bodyguard “became romantic and intimate” in May 2024, occurring over the next several months in California, New York, Colorado, Arizona and Washington, D.C., despite knowing he was married with three children.

Ms. Ammel alleges that the former lawmaker broke up her marriage by “willfully and intentionally” seducing her husband, having engaged in “intentional and malicious interference” in their marriage.

She is seeking $25,000 in damages.

North Carolina permits jilted spouses to sue for “alienation of affection” to pursue damages from a third party for intentionally damaging a marriage.

Ms. Sinema began romantically pursuing Mr. Ammel after he began working for her in April 2022, Ms. Ammel’s lawsuit says.

“While Mr. Ammel was on a security detail for me [in] Sonoma, CA, we were physically intimate for the first time,” Ms. Sinema wrote in court documents filed Thursday.

The two traded phone calls, emails and Signal messages that “exceeded the bounds of a normal working relationship,” according to the lawsuit.

Ms. Sinema rejected the allegations made by Ms. Ammel, including such messages between the two.

Mr. Ammel “struggled to admit to [his wife] he was having an affair,” according to his ex-wife. The two separated in November 2024, the lawsuit said.