Former Sen. Sinema Admits To Homewrecking Veteran Wife While In Office

Former Sen. Sinema Admits To Homewrecking Veteran Wife While In Office

By Staff Reporter |

Kyrsten Sinema admitted to the allegations of an affair with her security personnel, per a new court filing. 

However, the former senator says she shouldn’t be held accountable in court on the technicality that the affair didn’t occur in the state where the wife lived. 

The filing was first reported on by Brian Anderson of FOIAzona.

The former senator faces a “homewrecker” lawsuit in North Carolina for her affair with Army veteran Matthew Joseph Ammel (Ammel) filed by his estranged wife Heather Ammel — Ammel v. Sinema.

North Carolina allows the victim of a marital affair to sue the individual who engaged in the affair with their spouse. The Ammels were married for 14 years and had three children prior to their separation. 

Sinema believes the lawsuit no longer has grounds since she and Ammel conducted their affair outside of North Carolina. Sinema documented that she and Ammel were physically intimate in Washington, D.C. and other states — California, New York, Colorado, and Arizona — but never North Carolina. 

On Thursday, Sinema filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of personal jurisdiction. Sinema denied that the communications and physical contact constituting her affair with Ammel occurred while Ammel was domiciled and present in his home state of North Carolina. Sinema also denied having any knowledge that Ammel was present in North Carolina with his wife and children when she was contacting him concerning their affair. 

Sinema said the affair began at the end of May 2024. Sinema claimed that she believed Ammel had ended his marriage to his wife and had plans to move into a new apartment. 

In his declaration, Ammel said his marriage didn’t end until October 2024. According to the deposition of his wife, she attempted to salvage their marriage during those initial months that Sinema and Ammel carried out their affair.

Amid those beginning weeks of separation and prior to an official divorce, Sinema treated Ammel, his wife, and children to a Taylor Swift concert in Florida. Just prior to the first sexual encounter that Sinema admitted, Sinema treated the Ammel family to a U2 concert in late 2023. 

The senator denied that certain message exchanges between her and Ammel discussing sexual intimacy leading up to their first tryst were indicative of romantic or intimate involvement, especially since the two hadn’t yet had physical intimacy at the time. In one exchange, Sinema responded to Ammel’s text about starting a “f**k the troops” chant that she would “f**k the hot ones.” In another, Ammel discussed missionary style sex which Sinema called “boring.”

Sinema also denied sending a picture of herself “wrapped in a towel.”

Sinema and Ammel often corresponded using Signal, the encrypted messaging app that has the option to automatically delete messages after a certain period of time. 

As reported previously, Ammel’s time as Sinema’s security marked serious security expenditures that far surpassed her colleagues and even presidential candidates. Sinema spent over $1.7 million on her security. 

After Sinema left office, Ammel didn’t stray far from her side. The pair have toured together to lobby for the legalization and funding for psychedelic treatment, namely ibogaine: the compounded derivative of an African shrub called the iboga tree. 

Ammel was arrested and placed on a psychiatric hold in North Carolina last November for assaulting an officer at a hospital.

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Former Sen. Sinema Admits To Homewrecking Veteran Wife While In Office

Sinema Accused In Lawsuit Of Affair With Married Bodyguard, Campaign Fund Misuse

By Staff Reporter |

Former U.S. Senator-turned-lobbyist Kyrsten Sinema is facing a lawsuit alleging an affair with her formerly married bodyguard, Matthew “Matt” Ammel.

Ammel’s ex-wife filed the lawsuit against Sinema based on North Carolina’s “homewrecker law” back in September with a superior court in North Carolina. The lawsuit became public after the case was moved to the District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. 

The Ammels were married for 14 years and had three children together prior to their separation in November 2024.

Ammel joined Sinema’s security detail in early 2022. The lawsuit alleged that the adulterous relationship between Sinema and Ammel began at some point between late 2023 and early 2024. 

The lawsuit also accused Sinema of giving gifts to Ammel, including psychedelic treatment. Sinema was further accused of directing Ammel to bring MDMA drugs, which are illegal, on a work trip so she could guide Ammel through a psychedelic experience. 

During Sinema’s last year in the Senate while their alleged affair was well underway, Sinema allegedly hired Ammel to her staff as a Defense and National Security Fellow in addition to his security guard duties. 

The two were alleged to have attended multiple concerts together: U2, Taylor Swift, Green Day, were among those listed.

The lawsuit claims Sinema’s former head of security allegedly even warned Ammel about Sinema having affairs with other security members upon her resignation in the fall of 2023. 

During those last two years when Ammel was on board, Sinema’s security expenditures outpaced those by her colleagues and presidential candidates: over $1.7 million.

Sinema continued spending campaign funds into summer 2025. Expenditures amounted to over $390,000 over the course of three months; much of it went to similar expenses alleged in the lawsuit: private security and jet-setting. 

One unusual expenditure noted by media reports involved several hundred dollars given to a middle school PTO in North Carolina. It appears that payment may have been in connection to Sinema’s alleged affair and Ammel’s children. 

Ammel, an Army veteran, served over 17 years as a paratrooper and Green Beret before leaving the service in 2020. 

Last February, Sinema had Ammel testify before the House Appropriations Committee in favor of ibogaine research as part of her lobbying effort for funding psychedelic clinical studies. Ibogaine is a psychoactive compound derived from an African shrub, the iboga tree. It is not currently legal in the country and does not have FDA approval. Certain clinics within the country do use ibogaine for treatments.

After growing closer with Sinema, Ammel was appointed to a fellowship within the Office of University Affairs at Arizona State University. 

Last September, Ammel was a guest speaker at the screening of a 2024 Netflix documentary about Navy SEALs treating mental illness with psychedelics, “In Waves and War.” Ammel was presented as a North Carolina Special Operations Veteran and Ibogaine VETS Grant Recipient. 

It appears the psychedelic treatments weren’t having their desired effect.

Ammel was arrested in November for assaulting an officer while at a hospital in North Carolina. 

Ammel was placed on psychiatric hold for allegedly strangling a medic, per documents discovered by Fox 10 Phoenix.

AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.