BS BULLETIN:
- Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema lost her bid to get a North Carolina “homewrecker” lawsuit tossed on jurisdictional grounds.
- Sinema has acknowledged having a sexual relationship with Matthew Ammel, her former bodyguard and Senate staffer, while he was married.
- His ex-wife, Heather Ammel, is suing Sinema under North Carolina’s unusual “alienation of affection” law, alleging the former senator helped destroy their marriage.
Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has learned that leaving Washington doesn’t necessarily mean Washington-level drama leaves with you.
A federal judge ruled Friday that the former Arizona senator can be sued in North Carolina under the state’s rarely seen “alienation of affection” law over her relationship with a married member of her security detail.
Heather Ammel filed the lawsuit against Sinema, alleging the former senator knowingly pursued her then-husband, Matthew Ammel, and contributed to the collapse of their 14-year marriage.
Sinema sought to have the case dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, arguing that she had no meaningful connection to North Carolina and that her sexual encounters with Ammel occurred elsewhere.
U.S. District Judge David A. Bragdon wasn’t persuaded. The judge pointed to nine messages Sinema sent Ammel while he was in North Carolina and found it implausible that she didn’t know where he was at the time.
That was enough, the court ruled, for the lawsuit to continue.
The ruling does not determine whether Sinema is responsible for breaking up the marriage. It means Heather Ammel will be allowed to pursue her claim against her. And this is not simply a lawsuit built around an alleged affair that Sinema denies.
During a July deposition, Sinema acknowledged that her relationship with Ammel became sexual on May 27, 2024, during a trip to Napa, California. She testified that the two later had sexual encounters in New York, Washington, Colorado and Arizona, but not North Carolina. Sinema also acknowledged that she knew by late 2023 that Ammel was married and had children.
Matthew Ammel, a retired Army officer, joined Sinema’s security team in 2022. He later became a national security fellow in her Senate office while continuing to work for her campaign as a bodyguard. Heather Ammel alleges that before the affair, she and her husband had “a good and loving marriage” and that Sinema knowingly interfered with it. The Ammels separated in November 2024.
North Carolina is among the dwindling number of states where a jilted spouse can still sue a third party for allegedly interfering with a marriage. Sinema now gets to find out just how seriously North Carolina takes that particular piece of legal history.
MY QUICK TAKE
You know you’ve wandered into unusual legal territory when “But we never had sex in North Carolina” becomes part of the defense strategy.
Nine text messages later, the judge says the case stays.
Washington gave us congressional investigations, ethics complaints and special counsels. North Carolina apparently looked at all that and said: Fine. But did you steal somebody’s husband?
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Mediaite — Court rules former senator can be sued under ‘homewrecker’ law in North Carolina
- Associated Press — Judge clears lawsuit against Kyrsten Sinema under North Carolina’s ‘homewrecker’ law
- ABC News — Judge clears lawsuit against Kyrsten Sinema
- Mediaite — Sinema admitted relationship with married bodyguard in deposition
