By Staff Reporter |

Former U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema revealed more details into her affair with a married veteran who had been her bodyguard while in office. 

A new narrative of the affair was made available through depositions filed in the ongoing lawsuit initiated by the bodyguard’s ex-wife under North Carolina’s homewrecker law, which enables an individual to sue the person they believe to be the cause of their divorce. 

Matthew Ammel (Ammel), Sinema’s former bodyguard, had been married to the plaintiff, Heather Ammel (Heather), for 14 years. The Ammels had three children together. Ammel began working for Sinema in the spring of 2022. 

Sinema admitted in her July 31 deposition that despite knowing Ammel was married with children, she and Ammel had sex for the first time on May 27, 2024, while on a Memorial Day trip in Napa, California. Prior to that date, Sinema denied having ever flirted with him, let alone held or touched him in any way that could be considered romantic in nature.

The former senator is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit on the claim that the affair never took place in North Carolina, physically or electronically. 

At one point in Sinema’s deposition, evidence was discussed which reflected that Sinema’s phone registered her location in Southern Pines, North Carolina, when she called Ammel on the afternoon of Nov. 1, 2024. Sinema denied having been in that location on that date and insisted that she was in New York City.

Both Ammel and Sinema admitted to their affair occurring in Arizona, Washington, D.C., and other states — including New York and Colorado — but not North Carolina. 

Heather admitted in her deposition that she possessed no evidence that Ammel and Sinema engaged in their affair in North Carolina, and that she didn’t believe they had a sexual encounter in the state. However, Heather stated that she didn’t acquire a computer forensics expert to investigate if there was anything deleted or hidden that would prove otherwise. 

According to the latest court filings, Sinema and Ammel often communicated through Signal, an encrypted messaging app which allows for automatic message deletion according to user settings. Ammel stated in his deposition that their messages were deleted after eight hours. 

Sinema denied that she caused or directed the Signal messages to be deleted, automatically or manually. 

However, Heather testified in her deposition that Ammel and Sinema’s messages weren’t set to auto-delete prior to the discovery of their affair.  

Ammel claimed in his deposition that he was a victim of “domestic abuse violence,” and that was the reason for initiating his affair with Sinema and later separating from his wife. Despite conflicting testimony from his ex-wife, Ammel denies continuing his relationship with her following their separation date in October 2024. 

Ammel also disclosed in his deposition — which he took from “his home office” in a house in Arizona where Sinema was also present — that prior to sitting down for questions, he and Sinema had prayed together beforehand. Ammel testified that he presently works as a “cowboy” at Cross Creek Ranch in San Luis Obispo, California. 

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