Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema is still romantically involved with her ex-bodyguard, with whom she began an affair with in 2024, even after she was directly confronted by his wife at the time, according to fresh court filings.

The detail was one of many new, eye-popping revelations contained in Sinema’s sworn testimony submitted to a federal court in North Carolina, where a judge will consider this week whether to let a lawsuit filed by the bodyguard’s ex-wife proceed to trial.

The new deposition from Sinema sheds fresh light on the timing, nature, and secrecy of her longtime affair with Matthew Ammel, a US army veteran who was married with children when the two struck up their romantic relationship. 

More will be revealed this week at an evidentiary hearing at the US District Court in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where a federal judge will weigh Sinema’s request to drop a so-called ‘homewrecker lawsuit’ filed by Heather Ammel.

Both parties plan to question witnesses and present certain evidence before the court, according to recent filings. 

And, should the judge opt to let the lawsuit proceed to civil court for trial, Sinema – or at least her wallet – could be in for a world of pain. 

Sinema’s new testimony claims that it was Matthew Ammel, then on her payroll, who first initiated romantic contact in the backyard of a Napa, California, Airbnb on Memorial Day Weekend in 2024.

Sinema says her then-bodyguard unexpectedly kissed her around 1 am or 2 am. From there, she said, they went to his room and had sex for the first time – though it would certainly not be the last. 

Kyrsten Sinema is seen in this photo, shared to her personal social media account, with former president Joe Biden

Senator Sinema, clad in a blue sequined skirt, is seen speaking to Senator Rob Portman of Ohio ahead of a bipartisan bill to protect same sex and interracial marriage

Sinema denied to the court that there had been any flirting or expression of interest on her end prior to the Napa trip. 

That detail appears to directly contradict Ammel’s earlier sworn testimony that Sinema had shown interest in him and behaved flirtatiously from the time they met in 2022. 

Heather Ammel also testified that she and her former husband had spoken on at least one occasion about Sinema’s flirtatious behavior. 

The delta between Sinema and Matthew Ammel’s testimonies could be a problem, and Heather Ammel has already filed a motion seeking to limit her ex-husband’s recent efforts to join Sinema’s defense team. 

Sinema told the court in the fresh deposition that her affair with Ammel continued the following month, in June, when they attended the Manhattan wedding of CNN host Jessica Dean and Blackstone managing director Alex Katz – a glitzy ceremony officiated by none other than Dean’s fellow CNN correspondent, Kaitlan Collins.

From there, the two allegedly struck up sexual dalliances in multiple US cities, including Washington, DC, in Aspen, Colorado and in Phoenix, among other places.

Whether the affair continued within the jurisdiction of North Carolina is a sticking point in the case, and the federal judge is expected to hear from both Sinema’s lawyers and Heather Ammel’s lawyers regarding the location of certain messages  Sinema sent to Matthew Ammel.

The location and cell phone tower data could prove to be a sticking point in the evidentiary hearing. 

The lengthy sworn declaration appears to contradict testimony Sinema and Mrs Ammel gave the court earlier, snarling an already tangled timeline and complicating their bid to have the case thrown out.

The dates of messages sent on Signal, the encrypted app, are also in dispute. Sinema conceded in her deposition that she failed to save certain messages, which expire by design, including some she considered important. Much of the timeline has therefore been reconstructed by Ms Ammel’s lawyers.

Sinema testified that she first crossed paths with then-Mrs Ammel in December 2023, at a U2 concert in Las Vegas. She saw the couple arguing on a balcony, she said, but otherwise noticed nothing amiss.

The two women would not speak again for months — until Mrs Ammel allegedly intercepted a Signal message reading: ‘Putting my hand on your heart. I’ll see you soon. I miss you.’

‘Are you sleeping with my husband?’ Mrs Ammel shot back. Sinema says she never answered.

North Carolina is one of only a handful of states that still lets a jilted spouse sue the third party they blame for wrecking their marriage — a 19th century relic known as alienation of affection, scrapped almost everywhere else.

Such suits are rarely brought. But when they are, Tar Heel juries have proved unsparing, tacking zero after zero onto the age-old injury of a broken heart. Recent verdicts have run into the millions.

Should the case reach trial, Sinema could be ordered to pay compensatory and punitive damages dwarfing the sum named in Mrs Ammel’s complaint.

Then-Senator Mitt Romney of Utah and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona walk together outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC 

Matthew Ammel in a family photo

The Democratic-turned-independent politician was sued for ‘alienation of affection’ by the ex-wife of the lawmaker’s ex-bodyguard

Sinema testified there has been no break in the relationship since it began in May 2024. As of July 2026, she said, the pair meet roughly twice a month, in Arizona or California, where they live. 

Ms Ammel’s lawyers argue enough of the contact touched North Carolina to keep the case there. In a written declaration, she said she was at the marital residence when Sinema ‘sent a photo of herself wrapped in a towel’. ‘I was standing in our kitchen when I read the message,’ she said.

She still faces a steep burden. 

To win, a plaintiff must show the marriage held ‘real affection’ before any outsider appeared; that the ‘love and affection’ was destroyed or badly diminished; and that the defendant caused that destruction.

Those who clear it have been rewarded lavishly. 

A Guilford County jury awarded Cynthia Shackelford $9 million against her husband’s alleged mistress in 2010. 

In 2018 a Durham County judge put the figure at $8.8 million for BMX show promoter Keith King, who accused another man of stealing his wife and wrecking his business.