FIRST ON FOX: A consumer watchdog group is accusing the federally funded National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine of using taxpayer dollars to support DEI, transgender-related and other left-leaning initiatives, according to a new report.

Consumers’ Research compiled the “Woke Alert” report outlining what it describes as left-leaning research, workshops and grants from the congressionally chartered institution, including projects related to transgender youth, diversity and inclusion initiatives, policing and climate advocacy.

Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, accused the organization, which receives 70% of its budget from federal funds, of being “a radical woke organization masquerading as a nonpartisan educational institution.”

“From pushing transgender ideology onto kids to spreading ‘defund the police’ insanity, this taxpayer-supported organization regularly abuses its status and reputation to fund the left’s favorite causes,” Hild said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “It has shamefully used hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to push a highly polarized woke agenda behind lofty BS rhetoric about independence and objectivity.”

TRUMP-SIGNED SHUTDOWN BILL SENDS $4M TO CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS UNDER FEDERAL PROBE FOR TRANSGENDER CARE

Consumers’ Research argued that NASEM has established its allegiance with left-leaning transgender ideology through its various publications, such as a workshop titled “Supporting the Health and Well-Being of Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth,” and a book titled “Reducing Inequalities Between Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Adolescents and Cisgender, Heterosexual Adolescents: Proceedings of a Workshop 2022.”

The report highlighted that for years, NASEM has run a variety of DEI workshops with titles including “Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations: Current Context and Challenges;” and another titled “Protecting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education and the Workforce,” which was focused on putting affirmative action in place without race-based criteria.

HHS GOLD STANDARD STUDY FLIPS ‘GENDER AFFIRMING CARE’ ON ITS HEAD AS DEMS KEEP PUSHING TRANS ISSUES AT SCOTUS

In 2022, the National Academies partnered with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to hand out grants worth $1.15 million per recipient in an effort to promote DEI among biomedical researchers.

In response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, NASEM established its Committee on Reducing Racial Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System. The committee evaluated a proposal to cut $50 million from Austin, Texas’s police budget.

WATCHDOG FINDS DEI, CRT BAKED INTO ACCREDITATION RULES FOR HUNDREDS OF UNIVERSITY SOCIAL-WORK PROGRAMS

The report noted that committee co-chair Bruce Western accused police officers of having “caused a great deal of harm in low-income communities and communities of color.”

In one of NASEM’s studies, researchers accused police officers of being a “leading cause of death for young men in the United States.”

The National Academies have also published multiple studies raising concerns over climate change. In one of the studies, the Academies focused on elevating techniques that would make Americans more likely to participate in climate activism.

NASEM previously came under fire in August 2025 for publishing a climate review seeking to influence the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision on whether to rescind an Obama-era greenhouse gas finding. Critics suggested that NASEM was seeking to undermine the authority of the Trump administration.

Roger Pielke Jr., a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute specializing in science and technology policy, told Fox News Digital that in recent years, the National Academies has gone from acting under the direction of Congress to acting as an “independent actor” for the interests of billionaires and foundations.

Pielke said the National Academies received funding from the Bezos Earth Fund, a Jeff Bezos project created to address climate change. Through that support, the National Academies published a manual titled “Constructing Valid Geospatial Tools for Environmental Justice.” Pielke noted that the Bezos Earth Fund funds litigation centered on climate change and argued that “there is pretty strong evidence of a bias” in the Bezos Earth Fund.

“So I think issues about conflicts of interest and bias go well beyond just funding sources,” Pielke said. “They also extend to the groups researchers choose to partner with when conducting work that is supposed to be neutral and scientific.”

Fox News Digital reached out to NASEM for comment.

Emergency security lanes at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, one of the airports that were most affected by the ongoing partial government shutdown, were seen being cleared by staff on Monday after President Donald Trump signed an executive order over the weekend to pay Transportation Security Administration officers.

Though complications from hundreds of TSA agents quitting, and even more calling out of work, are likely to continue, the effects of the resumed paychecks could be seen almost immediately.

At Bush, where wait times were more than four hours and lines stretched out of terminal doors and into underground subway tunnels, the emergency appears to finally be over. Fox News filmed airport staff clearing the emergency lanes set up outside the terminal doors. Several travelers could be seen strolling past where the lanes had previously been. Current security wait times listed on the airport’s website are five and nine minutes.

Last week, travelers told Fox News Digital that they had to walk “miles” to get to the back of the security line, and at times, wait times were over four hours. Neither party escaped travelers’ ire over the fiasco, as several told Fox News Digital that they blamed “all congressmen” and “politicians.”

WATCH: TRAVELERS REVEAL WHOM THEY BLAME FOR MILES-LONG HOUSTON AIRPORT LINES AS TRUMP RESCUES TSA PAY

Disagreements in Congress over immigration enforcement have resulted in the Department of Homeland Security experiencing a lapse in funding. Democrats have made renewed funding for the department contingent on a set of reforms, including changes in enforcement tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.

Calling the situation an “emergency,” Trump warned that mounting disruptions at airports have pushed the system to a breaking point. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order directing federal officials to ensure that TSA employees receive pay during the DHS shutdown.

TSA agents finally began receiving paychecks on Monday after 42 days without pay, though the department remains unfunded as debates continue to roil in Congress.

TSA agents speaking with Fox News on Monday shared that they had received a paycheck Monday morning but that it was only half of what they were owed. Officers expressed that the TSA workforce remains very frustrated and worried about making ends meet with delayed pay and continued uncertainty.

‘AMERICANS FIRST’: ICE SWEEPS UP CHILD PREDATORS, RAPISTS ACROSS US AS MULLIN TAKES HELM OF DHS

According to DHS, 3,101 TSA officers, at a rate of 10.59 percent of the force, called out of work on Sunday.

Houston, whose two major airports are currently undergoing significant renovations, continued to experience some of the highest TSA officer call-outs in the country over the weekend. The airport with the highest call-out rate in the country was Baltimore’s Thurgood Marshall Airport, at 38.5 percent. Houston’s Bush and William P. Hobby Airport were ranked number two and three for the highest call-out rates at 36.4 percent and 34.1 percent, respectively.

Airports in New Orleans, Atlanta, New York City, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia also experienced significant call-out rates well above the national average.  

WATCH: DEMOCRATS TOLD AMERICANS TO FEAR ICE, HERE’S HOW AIRPORT TRAVELERS ACTUALLY FEEL

DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News that “at the direction of President Trump and the Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, TSA has immediately begun the process of paying its workforce.”

She decried the continuing funding lapse, saying, “This is the longest government shutdown in history.”

“Enough is enough. We have to reopen DHS,” she said, adding, “Democrats must stop using federal workers as political pawns and start focusing on what matters—taking care of the American people.”

President Donald Trump has spoken with the family of Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old college student who was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant in Chicago earlier this month, Fox News has learned.

A White House official confirmed to Fox News on Monday that Trump spoke with Gorman’s family, though did not immediately share details about the conversation the president had with her loved ones.

Gorman, a New York native who was attending Loyola University Chicago, was killed at around 1:06 a.m. on March 19 while with friends near a pier in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.

Officials allege Jose Medina-Medina, 25, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, fired one shot at the student, killing her.

SLAIN DC INTERN’S MOM URGES SHERIDAN GORMAN’S FAMILY TO ‘FIGHT BACK’ AFTER OBITUARY OLIVE BRANCH

Medina-Medina was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol on May 9, 2023, and was released into the U.S. under the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Gorman was reportedly only a few months away from completing her freshman year.

FATHER OF SLAIN 20-YEAR-OLD KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ISSUES STARK WARNING AFTER SHERIDAN GORMAN KILLING

Her mother, Jessica Gorman, delivered emotional remarks Saturday at a vigil in Yorktown Heights, vowing a “fight for justice.”

“I want to say this gently, but honestly, as a mom. I’m angry,” Jessica Gorman said. “I’m like completely heartbroken, and we are going to fight for justice for our sweet Sheridan, and we’re going to fight for change.”

Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.

Vice President JD Vance has long been seen as the heir apparent to President Donald Trump and his MAGA and America First base. While Vance remains the hypothetical clear front-runner ahead of the start of the 2028 White House race, which won’t ignite until after this year’s midterm elections, Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears to be on the rise.

Thanks to an increase in his responsibilities and public profile, most recently around the U.S. operation in Venezuela and the month-long strikes against Iran, Rubio has seen his support for a possible presidential bid soar in recent weeks.

The latest example — Rubio’s strong second-place finish this weekend in the 2028 Republican presidential nomination straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

WHITE HOUSE RACE UNDERWAY: WITH 2026 LOOMING, BOTH PARTIES ARE ALREADY PLAYING FOR 2028

Rubio, who was one of more than a dozen Republican contenders who ran and lost to Trump in the tumultuous 2016 presidential race, grabbed 35% of the vote at CPAC when the straw poll results were announced this past weekend, up from a mere 3% a year earlier.

Vance, who is popular with MAGA and America First groups, saw his support slightly edge down to 53% from 61% last year. All the other potential Republican 2028 White House candidates scored in the low single digits in the informal survey of CPAC attendees.

HILLARY CLINTON’S RETURING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE – BUT NOT FOR 2028

The CPAC straw poll follows recent numbers from the Saint Anselm College Survey Center in New Hampshire, the state that has long held the first primary in the GOP presidential nominating calendar, that also showed Rubio surging. And a handful of national polls have also pointed to a rise in support for a hypothetical Rubio bid.

The results are fuel for intrigue over what some in the Republican Party see as a budding rivalry between Rubio and Vance, who describe each other as friends.

“His overall favorability is going up because voters see him as a capable and steady person in the president’s cabinet, and Trump supporters are reacting,” New Hampshire Institute of Politics Executive Director Neil Levesque, who oversees the Saint Anselm poll, told Fox News Digital.

Partially fueling Rubio’s rise is Trump, who has lavishly praised his secretary of state.

The president recently declared that Rubio would go down as “the greatest secretary of state in history.”

Trump has also promoted a Vance-Rubio ticket — calling it “unstoppable” a few months ago—but has not said who should be at the top of the ticket.

But the president did say last year that Vance is “most likely” his heir apparent. “In all fairness, he’s the vice president,” Trump added.

While Vance has demurred when questioned about 2028, he has built a political team of advisers who, if he runs as expected, would quickly build out a presidential campaign.

Rubio, who is crisscrossing the globe as part of job requirements, doesn’t have a similar group of political aides. And Rubio has said he’ll back Vance if the vice president launches a 2028 campaign.

“If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio told Vanity Fair late last year.

Regardless, Republican sources confirm to Fox News that a group of GOP donors who support the secretary of state are quietly working on ways to boost Rubio’s political profile.

That’s not sitting well with some in the president’s political orbit.

“Vice President Vance is the future of the Republican Party and Marco Rubio is one of his closest friends in the administration,” an operative in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News.

“The divisive stories from some donors trying to cause chaos are not helpful,” the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized.

Vance has also weighed in, telling Fox News’ Martha MacCallum last month that “Marco is my closest friend in the administration.”

And the vice president, in his interview on Fox News’ “The Story,” added, “I think it’s so interesting the media wants to create this conflict where there just isn’t any conflict.”

A growing standoff between President Donald Trump and a key NATO ally escalated Monday after Spain blocked U.S. military aircraft involved in the Iran conflict from using its airspace, marking the latest rupture between Washington and Madrid over defense policy and the war in the Middle East.

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles confirmed the move, saying Spain has denied both airspace access and the use of joint U.S.-Spanish bases for any operations tied to the Iran conflict.

“This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning,” Robles said. “Neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in Iran.”

Spain already had refused to allow U.S. forces to use the strategically critical Rota and Morón bases in southern Spain, installations long viewed as key hubs for American military operations into Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The expansion of that restriction to Spanish airspace effectively cuts off another logistical pathway for U.S. operations and signals that Madrid is willing to directly limit U.S. military movement despite its NATO membership.

NATO HEAVYWEIGHTS BALK AT HORMUZ MISSION AS TRUMP WARNS ALLIANCE AT RISK

The dispute has increasingly become a direct clash between Trump and Spain’s left-wing government under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, which has taken one of the most outspoken positions in Europe against U.S. and Israeli military action.

Sánchez has described the Iran war as “illegal,” “reckless” and “unjust,” and his government has framed its refusal to cooperate as a matter of international law and national sovereignty.

“This decision is part of the decision already made by the Spanish government not to participate in or contribute to a war which was initiated unilaterally and against international law,” Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said in a radio interview when asked whether the move could further strain ties with the United States.

IRAN BACKLASH FORCES GULF ALLIES TOWARD WASHINGTON AS REGIONAL TENSIONS RISE

Trump previously lashed out at Spain after it denied base access, saying, “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain” and “We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”

A White House official downplayed Spain’s latest move. 

“The United States Military is meeting or surpassing all of its goals under Operation Epic Fury and does not need help from Spain or anyone else,” the official told Fox News Digital.

The U.S. maintains a significant military presence in Spain under long-standing bilateral agreements, including Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base, which serve as key hubs for American forces moving between the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Naval Station Rota, in particular, supports U.S. Navy operations in the Mediterranean and hosts warships tied to the U.S. Sixth Fleet, some of which have been operating in the broader Iran conflict.

Spain’s earlier decision to bar the use of those bases for Iran-related operations forced U.S. aircraft, including refueling tankers, to relocate to other European bases such as Germany and France.

The standoff also reflects broader, long-running friction between Trump and Spain over defense spending and burden-sharing inside NATO, where Madrid has lagged behind alliance targets — an issue Trump has repeatedly used to pressure European allies.

Spain’s decision underscores a deeper divide within NATO over how to respond to the Iran conflict, with Madrid emerging as one of the clearest dissenting voices willing to translate political opposition into operational limits on U.S. military activity.

Robles reiterated that position Monday, calling the war “profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust,” underscoring Spain’s continued resistance despite pressure from Washington.

The Spanish embassy and NATO could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The White House is calling on Congress to return from Easter recess to pass funding to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, arguing the standoff has disrupted TSA operations and airport travel nationwide.

“Nothing will be truly normal again until Democrats do the right thing to fund this agency fully again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Monday’s press briefing. “The president has stepped in – in the meantime to do what’s right to end this crisis that we’ve had at air travel, at airports across the country in the meantime. 

“But again, Congress needs to come back. Democrats need to fund the Department of Homeland Security so we can formally and fully get these great employees paid long into the future,” Leavitt added.

The funding impasse has stretched beyond six weeks, with reports of major TSA staffing shortages, long security lines, and the deployment of ICE personnel to assist at some airports.

Congress left Washington without a final deal after negotiations over DHS funding and immigration provisions stalled. Both parties have traded blame as travel disruptions and pressure from unions and aviation officials continue to grow.

This is a breaking news update. Check back for more.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in what could be one of the most significant cases of the 21st century: birthright citizenship.

Before the Court is whether the Trump executive order that ends birthright citizenship complies with the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, after multiple judges blocked the order from taking effect as it was litigated. 

In plain speak, the Court will look at whether someone born on U.S. soil automatically becomes a citizen irrespective of their parents’ status. 

ALITO BLASTS LAWYER’S WORD-SALAD BLURRING ASYLUM LAW

Given that courts have routinely upheld birthright citizenship for over a century now, the Trump administration faces an uphill battle. 

However, the current Court has not shied away from overturning high-profile decisions: think Dobbs overturning Roe (abortion), and Loper overturning Chevron (the administrative state). The mere fact the Court decided to take up this issue at all is very interesting. As always, the devil will be in the details in terms of how broadly, or narrowly, they decide the case – or if they find some way to punt it altogether.

The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1 of the Constitution states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”  

SUPREME COURT PREPARES TO REVIEW TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

Its history: The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 in response to 1) the end of the Civil War and 2) the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which concluded that enslaved people (and their children) were not American citizens and thus had no rights and couldn’t sue in federal court, among other things. Notably, Michigan Senator Jacob Howard wrote the “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” clause and said in speeches at the time that the clause did not include “persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to families of ambassadors or foreign ministers.” 

Why this matters: In the upcoming arguments, expect a lot of discussion about what “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means, especially because the subsequent Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 mirrors the language of the 14th Amendment  – that a citizen is someone who is born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. 

DC COURT RULINGS STALL TRUMP AGENDA ACROSS IMMIGRATION, POLICING, FED — RAISING STAKES ON EXECUTIVE POWER 

Wong Kim Ark: The 1898 U.S. Supreme Court decision that gave us birthright citizenship as we know it today. The case involved the U.S.-born adult child of Chinese nationals – who had been permanently domiciled in the U.S. –  who was denied reentry into the U.S. after returning from a trip to China. At the time, it was generally difficult for Chinese nationals to become citizens.

In its decision, the Supreme Court held that children born on U.S. soil are automatically granted citizenship with very few exceptions, such as children of diplomats. It interpreted the “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to mean subject to the laws of the U.S. 

The Court reasoned that citizens and non-citizens alike are subject to the laws of the nation they are in. The Court emphasized that Ark’s parents were “permanently domiciled” in the U.S. This decision was controversial at the time because it ignored previous Supreme Court language that had found children born to alien parents were not citizens. However, in Wong Kim Ark, the Court dismissed that argument in its opinion, finding that previous language was mere “dicta,” i.e., language that was not necessary to those decisions, and thus, did not create binding precedent. 

The bottom line: This is the blockbuster case of this Supreme Court term. A decision is expected late June. 

While thousands of Department of Homeland Security employees have gone seven weeks without a paycheck, some lawmakers are defending a planned recess as the funding stalemate drags on.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., objected Monday to the idea that senators should have stayed in session until lawmakers come to an agreement to fund DHS. The Democratic lawmaker traveled to the U.S. Capitol to block potential floor action related to ending the partial government shutdown from Republicans during a planned “pro forma” session.

“How do you justify being off for the next two weeks?” CBS News congressional correspondent Nikole Killion asked Coons. “We’re 45 days in. Can Democrats and Republicans keep affording to play this blame game?”

“You know very well that we’re not off,” Coons responded. “We’re working every day in our home states. For most of us, this is when we have time to go up and down our state and to meet with our constituents and listen to their concerns.”

DEMS BLOCK DHS FUNDING AFTER GOP REJECTS THEIR COUNTER, THUNE SAYS SCHUMER ‘GOING IN CIRCLES’

The fiery exchange comes as tens of thousands of DHS employees have been furloughed or are reporting to work without pay during the record-breaking funding lapse. Though President Donald Trump has taken executive action to pay the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workforce with existing funds, many other DHS employees have not received a full paycheck in over seven weeks.

With both chambers of Congress scheduled to be in recess until mid-April, those individuals will continue to have their pay withheld as the funding impasse drags on.

Lawmakers, however, continue to be paid, but have the option to defer their salary during a government shutdown. 

The House of Representatives approved a two-month DHS funding extension measure largely along party lines late Friday evening after rejecting a bipartisan Senate deal that would have funded the whole department except for DHS and parts of the Border Patrol.

Republicans advanced the measure despite Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arguing the bill would be “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber due to opposition from Democrats.

Though no Senate Republican attempted to ask for unanimous consent Monday to approve the House bill, Coons voiced frustration that lawmakers could pursue that approach during the Senate’s recess.

“It is incredibly inconvenient for members to have to come back to Washington just to be there for five minutes,” Coons said. “But ultimately, if that’s what it takes, I’m willing to be the one who comes in again.”

Senate Democrats have consistently refused to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) without sweeping reforms to rein in Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. 

House Republicans, conversely, have fiercely objected to not including DHS and CBP money in a DHS funding bill. 

“Republicans are not going to be any part of any effort to reopen our borders or to stop immigration enforcement,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday.

TSA WARNS OF ‘LONGSTANDING’ SHUTDOWN FALLOUT EVEN AFTER FUNDING CLEARS, AND A MAJOR EVENT COULD MAKE IT WORSE

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., also defended the planned recess on Monday, telling reporters that lawmakers are continuing to negotiate as the shutdown enters its seventh week. The North Dakota lawmaker chaired a “pro forma” session during which no Senate business was considered.

“TSA is getting paid, because of the president’s action, and we appreciate that very much,” Hoeven said. “Also, ICE and CBP, there is funding there from the ‘big beautiful bill.’ So they’re getting paid as well. Third, we’re working to set up the reconciliation bill and continuing negotiations.”

Both ICE and CBP are relying on an unprecedented amount of cash from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. However, certain civilians and support staff employed by these agencies have not received a paycheck during the funding lapse.

CORNYN TARGETS LAWMAKERS’ AIRPORT FAST PASS AS TSA LINES GROW DURING DHS SHUTDOWN

When asked by Fox News about the thousands of DHS employees who are not being paid, Hoeven said Republicans are considering a second “big, beautiful bill” that could make DHS shutdown proof for the remainder of Trump’s presidency.

“We want to now do reconciliation for three years,” Hoeven said, referring to a three-year DHS funding extension. “So the Democrats can’t do this to us again.”

A second budget reconciliation package is likely to be an arduous task in an election year and could take several months to accomplish. The approach also risks dividing Republicans. House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., told Fox News Digital on Friday that she would prefer funding DHS through the normal appropriations process.

Amid the funding stalemate, some Senate Republicans are calling on their colleagues to return to Washington and cancel the recess.

“We can’t reward unprecedented obstruction with two-week recesses,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote on social media on Sunday evening, referring to Senate Democrats. 

The Utah Republican was not present during the upper chamber’s pro forma session Monday.

Kyrsten Sinema could be forced to shell out tens of thousands of dollars in damages for an affair she had with her former bodyguard after his estranged wife sued the former senator under a 19th century law that allows jilted spouses in a handful of U.S. states to sue for a broken heart.

The so-called “alienation of affection” lawsuits are currently recognized in just six U.S. states — including North Carolina, where Sinema’s former bodyguard, Matthew Ammel, had lived with his now-estranged wife, Heather Ammel, for roughly a decade. 

The complaint against Sinema accused her of engaging in “intentional and malicious interference” in Ammel’s marriage and sought $25,000 in damages from Sinema as a result of the allegedly “willful and wanton” conduct.

KYRSTEN SINEMA RIPS SENATE DEMOCRATS FOR APPARENT FLIP-FLOP ON FILIBUSTER NOW THAT THEY NEED IT

In order to succeed in the lawsuit, plaintiffs must satisfy a difficult burden of proof. First, that the marriage had real affection and a viable relationship before any third-party involvement; second, that the “love and affection” were destroyed, or significantly diminished; and third, that the defendant in question directly “caused the destruction of that marital love and affection.”

Perhaps for this reason, the complaint spares no detail: it ticks through an extemporaneous timeline of Ammel’s relationship with Sinema, as a member of her security detail, a member of her staff, and later, as her romantic partner.

According to the complaint, Sinema sent suggestive messages to Matthew Ammel repeatedly over Signal, the encrypted messaging app, months before he and his wife officially split.

“I keep waking up during my sleep and reaching over for your arms to hold me,” Sinema told Ammel via Signal in June 2024, according to the complaint — around the same time Ammel allegedly stopped wearing his wedding ring.

On another occasion, Sinema offered to “work on” Ammel’s back with a Theragun, and allegedly suggested that he bring MDMA on a work trip and offered to “guide him through a psychedelic experience,” though Sinema said she has “no recollection” of those messages. 

KYRSTEN SINEMA’S SWITCH TO INDEPENDENT DESCRIBED AS ‘GUT PUNCH’ TO DEMOCRATS: ‘NO WIGGLE ROOM’

At times, Heather was herself a party to the relationship, before and after the affair allegedly began. In 2023, she traveled to Las Vegas to attend a U2 concert with her husband and Sinema where they drank Dom Pérignon wine in Cindy McCain’s suite, according to the lawsuit. 

The two also traveled to Miami for a Taylor Swift concert in October 2024 — which the three attended out of “concern” for Ammel’s children, according to copies of the affidavit reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

It was the same month that Heather Ammel allegedly confronted Sinema directly by responding to one of her Signal messages. 

“Are you having an affair with my husband? You took a married man away from his family,” she wrote, according to the complaint. Sinema has since acknowledged having received the message.

The lawsuit accuses Sinema of acting with “deliberate” interference in the marriage of her bodyguard and his now-estranged wife, who argued that the former lawmaker seduced him and thus “wrongfully and maliciously” deprived her of the “warmth, companionship” and love of their marriage.

The relationship between the two is not in dispute: Sinema, who served in the Senate from 2019 to 2025, has since acknowledged her relationship with her former bodyguard, though she argued the case should be dismissed for a lack of jurisdiction, since the affair in question took place “exclusively outside” the boundaries of the Tar Heel state, according to her lawyers.

While these lawsuits have become increasingly rare in the 21st century, they are not unheard of — and plaintiffs in the state have at times won eye-popping payouts for such claims. 

In 2010, a jury in North Carolina awarded plaintiff Cynthia Shackelford a total of $9 million in compensatory and punitive damages for an “alienation of affection” lawsuit brought against her husband’s alleged mistress. More recently, 2018, a Durham County judge ordered some $8.8 million in damages be paid out to BMX show owner Keith King from the man he said stole his wife — and ruined his company.

TRUMP-BACKED AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERHAUL CLEARS SENATE, WHILE HOUSE GOP RAISES RED FLAGS

Sinema, for her part, says the relationship between the two became “romantic and intimate” beginning in May 2024, during a trip to Sonoma, California, and said they were subsequently “physically intimate” in the months that followed, including in Phoenix, Arizona; Aspen, Colorado; and New York City. 

They were not, her lawyers stressed, intimate within the physical bounds of North Carolina prior to the dissolution of Ammel’s marriage.

The judge presiding over the case ordered the plaintiff, Ammel, to file a response to Sinema’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit by mid-April.

Matthew Ammel filed for divorce from his wife earlier this year.

A Michigan Democrat running for U.S. Senate is facing backlash after a report on leaked audio showing him explaining why he shouldn’t take a public position on the death of former Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei because of people in Dearborn, Michigan, who are “sad.”

Progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon, was recorded in a staff meeting strategizing about how to address the Iranian leader’s death after he was killed during U.S. and Israel’s military action in the country.

“I’m just gonna go straight to pedophilia, frankly,” El-Sayed is heard saying about his response if pressed by a reporter. “I’ll just be like, ‘Pedophile president decides that he doesn’t like the front page news, so he decides to take us into another war.’”

El-Sayed also told his team, in reference to the significant Muslim population in Dearborn, “I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So, like, I just don’t want to comment on Khamenei at all. Like, I don’t think it’s worth even touching that.”

SANDERS-ENDORSED SENATE CANDIDATE KNOCKED FOR ALLEGED FLIP-FLOP TO ‘HAVE IT BOTH WAYS’ ON KEY ISSUE

The report sparked immediate backlash from Republicans and conservatives on social media.

“Speaks volumes about the level of extremism within the El-Sayed coalition here,” Fox News radio political analyst Josh Kraushaar posted on X.

“Democrats have an abundance of riches to choose from when selecting which one of their Senate candidates is the craziest, most radical, and most anti-American,” GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno posted on X.

“Beyond parody,” conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X.

“Well this is insane,” GOP adviser Nathan Brand posted on X.

TLAIB-BACKED SENATE CANDIDATE IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER DELETING ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

“Anyone who is sad that the Ayatollah is dead should be deported,” Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Jason Bedrick posted on X.

“Disgraceful,” the Republican Jewish Coalition posted on X.

In a post on X, former Biden-Harris surrogate Kevin Walling called the news “disqualifying.”

Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment.

In a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, campaign lawyers at the Sandler Reiff law firm said the recording was “obtained without the campaign’s permission” and “without knowledge that individuals were being recorded.”

“The campaign is considering its legal options against the individual in question,” the statement added.

El-Sayed, who is Muslim, recently faced controversy for agreeing to team up with Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer who once said “America deserved 9/11.”

Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary will be held on Aug 4 as El-Sayed squares off against Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens to replace outgoing Sen. Gary Peters. 

The Cook Political report ranks the race as a “toss up” heading into November’s consequential midterms.