Former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema admitted to an affair with her former bodyguard, Matthew Ammel, in a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Ammel's ex-wife

Heather Ammel sued Sinema in January under North Carolina's alienation of affection law, arguing Sinema “willfully and intentionally” seduced her husband of 14 years

Sinema's motion argues that because she and Matthew were never involved romantically in North Carolina, she cannot be sued there

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema admitted to an affair with her former bodyguard, Matthew Ammel, in a motion filed Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Matthew’s ex–wife, Heather Ammel.

Heather sued Sinema in September 2025 in North Carolina, where the Ammels live, under the state’s alienation of affection law, which allows jilted spouses to take legal action against a third party for interfering in a marriage. The lawsuit accuses Sinema and Matthew of engaging in “repeated episodes of sexual intercourse" while Matthew was married to Heather, and more than $75,000 in damages.

Heather has accused Sinema of “willfully and intentionally” seducing her husband despite knowing he was married with three children. Heather and Matthew separated in 2024, shortly after he joined Sinema’s staff, after 14 years of marriage. Later, in January, Heather filed for divorce.

In a sworn declaration on Thursday, Sinema said the relationship between her and Matthew “became romantic and intimate” at the end of May in 2024. “On May 27, 2024, while Mr. Ammel was on a security detail for me in Sonoma, CA, we were physically intimate for the first time,” she said. “Thereafter, we were physically intimate in mid-June in New York City, NY, in mid-July in Washington, DC, in late-August in Aspen, CO, in lateSeptember in Washington, DC, and in early-October in Phoenix, AZ.”

But, because Sinema, an independent who represented Arizona in the Senate for six years, and Matthew were not physically intimate in North Carolina, Heather cannot sue Sinema in North Carolina, according to a motion filed Thursday by Sinema’s attorney, Steven B. Epstein.

It asks the court to throw out the case “for lack of personal jurisdiction.”

Sinema’s motion to dismiss also asserts that “100%” of telephone and email communications between herself and Matthew during the time period in which they were involved romantically “occurred while Mr. Ammel was physically located outside of North Carolina,” disputing the claims in Heather's initial filing.

“Plaintiff grounds her assertion of jurisdiction on romantic telephone calls and electronic messages she alleges Defendant initiated with Mr. Ammel while he was in North Carolina. The evidence, however, refutes her allegations,” the motion argues. “During the relevant time period, Mr. Ammel was traveling outside of North Carolina for at least three different jobs all but a few days each month. Defendant documents each telephone call and email communication she had with him—none of which occurred while he was in North Carolina.”

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

The lawsuit filed in January catalogued other examples that Heather said illustrate a relationship between Sinema and Matthew that “exceeded the bounds of a normal working relationship,” including an allegation that Sinema once suggested Matthew, an Army veteran, take MDMA on a work trip to help ease his post-traumatic stress disorder. Sinema said she had “no recollection” of the suggestion in Thursday’s declaration.

A 2018 House resolution bars members of Congress from having sexual relationships with their staff, but there are no such restrictions in the Senate.

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