The timeline, key dates and salacious allegations surrounding former U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s relationship with her former bodyguard and staffer are set to come under close scrutiny Wednesday morning in a North Carolina courtroom.
A federal judge is expected to consider what comes next in the closely watched “homewrecker” lawsuit, a case that has drawn sustained public attention for months.
The evidentiary hearing is likely to bring fresh details about Sinema’s alleged romantic involvement with Matthew Ammel, a U.S. Army veteran and father who had lived in North Carolina with his wife and children for more than 10 years before the alleged affair.
Heather Ammel, Matthew’s wife, is seeking tens of thousands of dollars in damages from Sinema, accusing the former senator of “intentionally” and “maliciously” destroying her marriage of more than a decade under a rarely used 19th-century law that remains in effect in only a small number of U.S. states.
Sinema, Matthew Ammel and Heather Ammel are all expected to provide testimony Wednesday, either in court or through sworn deposition, while a series of additional witnesses is also expected to testify about the alleged long-running relationship.
More information about the relationship has continued to surface through extensive court filings and sworn depositions submitted in the final stretch before Wednesday’s hearing began.
In those filings, Heather described years of growing suspicion about her husband’s new boss, then-Senator Sinema.
She told the court she had repeatedly brushed aside what she viewed as Sinema’s “flirty” behavior toward Matthew, even as she pointed to solo trips to Napa more than a year before the affair allegedly began, a champagne-filled celebration in Colorado where the two were photographed in swimsuits beneath a waterfall, and other encounters she found troubling.
Kyrsten Sinema is seen in this photo, shared to her personal social media account, with former president Joe Biden
The Democratic-turned-independent politician was sued for ‘alienation of affection’ by the ex-wife of her former bodyguard
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
By the summer of 2024, Matthew had stopped sharing his location with Heather. She told the court she was bracing for the worst.
By October, those fears were confirmed by a late-night Signal message she intercepted on her husband’s phone.
‘I miss you,’ Sinema wrote to Matthew. ‘Putting my hand on your heart. I’ll see you soon. I miss you.’
The message landed with Heather instead, sending her into ‘complete panic mode’ and a ‘complete meltdown at 2 am in utter shock,’ she testified.
Heather isn’t the only one sharing new details under oath. In a fresh deposition, Sinema testified it was Matthew, then on her payroll, who first initiated romantic contact, kissing her unexpectedly around 1 or 2am in the backyard of a Napa, California, Airbnb on Memorial Day Weekend 2024.
They went to his room and had sex for the first time. It would not be the last.
Sinema is seen applauding during then-President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in 2023 at the US Capitol
Former senator Kyrsten Sinema watches Matthew Ammel, her former bodyguard, with whom she had an affair, testify before the Arizona legislature in February 2024. They first became intimate in May of that year
The following month, the pair traveled to Manhattan for the wedding of CNN host Jessica Dean and Blackstone managing director Alex Katz, a glitzy ceremony officiated by CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins.
From there, they allegedly continued sexual liaisons across multiple US cities, including Washington DC, Aspen and Phoenix.
Whether the affair crossed into North Carolina is now a pivotal question.
The federal judge is expected to hear arguments from both sides over the location of certain messages Sinema sent to Ammel, which will determine whether her motion to dismiss the lawsuit succeeds, and whether Heather can proceed under a rare 19th-century law still on the books in a handful of states.
Should the case reach trial, Heather stands to profit handsomely.
Tar Heel State juries have been famously sympathetic in tortious interference cases, awarding compensatory and punitive damages well into the millions.
