Kyrsten Sinema, a former US senator, admitted in court filings to having a “romantic and intimate” relationship with a married man who was a member of her security detail during her final year in office – but argues that his estranged wife should not be able to sue her over it.

The admission to the multi-state affair came in response to a lawsuit filed by Heather Ammel, who accused the former Arizona senator in federal court of breaking up her marriage under North Carolina’s so-called “homewrecker” law.

In the court documents, filed on 12 March, Sinema asked a federal judge to dismiss the case, saying in sworn statements that she has no connection to North Carolina, where the bodyguard, Matthew Joseph Ammel, resided with his wife and children. She noted that she was “physically intimate” with Ammel in four states as well as Washington DC – but not once in North Carolina.

Furthermore, between early 2023 and 1 November 2024, Sinema says “100%” of her phone calls and email communications with Ammel occurred when he was outside North Carolina – and largely related to his work as part of her Senate security detail, which involved frequent travel.

She states that she was unaware Ammel lived in North Carolina with his family until December 2023, more than a year after he first began working security for her. Sinema also maintained she had no knowledge of Ammel’s “day-to-day” whereabouts unless it was related to travel as part of her security detail.

As part of the filing, Sinema detailed a half-dozen encounters in which she said she was “physically intimate” with Ammel, starting in late May 2024, in Sonoma, California. She stated that they engaged in additional encounters in New York; Washington DC; Aspen, Colorado, and Phoenix, Arizona.

According to Heather’s lawsuit, she had a “good and loving marriage” with her husband before Sinema interfered. She accused Sinema of pursuing Matthew despite knowing he was married.

Heather maintained she discovered “romantic and lascivious” messages exchanged between her husband and Sinema, including a photo of the then-senator wrapped in a towel.

In the lawsuit, Heather alleged that Sinema paid for psychedelic treatment for Matthew, a US army veteran who has struggled with post-traumatic stress, substance abuse and traumatic brain injuries tied to his military deployments.

Sinema denies ever sending a photo of her “wrapped in a towel” and states that she has “no recollection” of sending “any message” to Matthew suggesting he bring MDMA drugs on a work trip so that she could “guide him through a psychedelic experience”.

Matthew received nearly $9,000 in October from Sinema’s old campaign committee, according to news outlet Notus, citing Federal Election Commission (FEC) documents. Other unusual campaign expenditures include hotels in Saudi Arabia, wine and “gifts” from Taylor Swift’s official gift store.

In Sinema’s motion to dismiss, she states that she joined the Ammel family, including their three children, at a Taylor Swift concert in Miami just days before the couple formally split. The Ammels stayed in different hotel rooms during the trip.

North Carolina is one of only a few US states where spouses can sue a third party – often the “paramor” – for alienation of affection resulting from an affair. But Sinema says Heather’s lawsuit against her should be dropped because the affair at the center of the case unfolded outside North Carolina.

The case has brought renewed attention to Sinema, the Democrat turned independent who served one term in the Senate after flipping her seat in 2018 in a politically competitive state. She emerged as a key bipartisan deal-maker but infuriated her Democratic colleagues by stymieing some of the top legislative priorities when their party held the White House during Joe Biden’s presidency.

Since leaving the Senate, Sinema has continued to raise eyebrows with her work on issues such as cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence as a senior adviser at the law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells.

She has also openly advocated for psychedelic medicine and been outspoken about her experience undergoing ​​​​ibogaine treatment to prevent dementia.

Cementing her rightward turn, the Washington Reporter announced recently that Sinema would join the conservative news outlet as a columnist, bringing an “inside look at some of the most consequential policy debates”.