The woman suing Kyrsten Sinema felt “powerless” when the former U.S. senator from Arizona took an interest in her husband, she said during courtroom testimony in the “homewrecker” case.
Sinema faced the ex-wife of her lover and former bodyguard Aug. 19 in a North Carolina courtroom.
Heather Ammel is using a rare “homewrecker” law to sue Sinema for allegedly breaking up her 14-year marriage to Matthew Ammel, who served as Sinema’s bodyguard when she was in the Senate.
The evidentiary court hearing drew the New York Post and Daily Mail tabloids to Winston-Salem. Heather Ammel filed a civil suit against Sinema using North Carolina’s uncommon “alienation of affection” law, which allows a spouse to sue another person for breaking up their marriage.
Sinema, who is not married, admitted to having a coast-to-coast sexual affair with Matthew Ammel during her final year in the U.S. Senate. However, she argued that the affair did not happen in North Carolina, so the case should be tossed.
Both women testified in court. A judge is weighing Sinema’s request to dismiss the suit.
According to the Daily Mail, Heather Ammel told the judge that Sinema took advantage of Matthew Ammel when he joined her staff after leaving the army in 2022. Sinema began asking him deep questions during a trip they took to Napa, California, in 2023.
“I felt completely powerless,” Heather Ammel said, according to the tabloid. “It was me against a sitting senator with power, and money ... she had her hooks in him.”
However, Sinema said she did not have romantic feelings toward Matthew Ammel in 2024, according to the New York Post. Their sexual relationship began around Memorial Day that year, when they were staying at an Airbnb in Napa.
“I’m not like that,” Sinema said during her testimony. “When the opportunity presented itself, and when Mr. Ammel approached me, we had sex.”
Stephanie Murray covers national politics and the Trump administration for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She co-hosts “The Gaggle,” The Republic’s weekly politics podcast. Reach her at stephanie.murray@usatodayco.com, on X and TikTok @stephanie_murr and on Instagram @stephaniemurray.news.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'She had her hooks in him.' Ex-wife was 'powerless' in Sinema affair
