Seeing is believing, or so it was said up until AI required questioning everything. But even when braced to resist the slop roulette of online interaction, pictures are worth a thousand tokens.
Anthropic’s Claude AI model has been trained to do what may be more valuable than mere depiction: It can now generate not just static charts but dynamic visualizations, complete with sliders, buttons, and assorted animation control gewgaws.
Anthropic showed off an early version of this capability last fall under the label Imagine with Claude and has now rolled it out to customers as a beta service.
“Claude can create custom charts, diagrams and other visualizations in-line in its responses – and then tweak and modify its creations as the conversation develops,” the company explains in a blog post.
This is not artist style pilfering along the lines of Google’s Nano Banana or Midjourney. Rather its on-the-fly generation of JavaScript code using visualization library Chart.js, HTML, CSS, and whatnot. These are on-demand mini-apps, and they’re intended to be temporary rather than persistent tools like Claude Artifacts.
As an example, Antropic suggests you can ask Claude to show you how compound interest works. And after some churning of bits, the company’s AI service will emit an interactive chart with sliders that illustrates said financial miracle.
In the before-times, one might have had to scour the web for such a tool and visit various ad-strewn spamscapes before finding a workable option.
More interestingly, these just-in-time charting tools can evolve with conversations – after testing out the suggested “Show me how compound interest works” prompt, The Register requested the addition of an inflation slider. And lo, it was done, all for the very low cost of a few thousand tokens and some undisclosed amount of electricity and water.
Claude’s Periodic Table of Idiots – Click to enlarge
Just for fun, we asked Claude, “Show me an interactive table of elements but instead of elements, depict idiots.” To our surprise, Claude, so often playing the role of the responsible one in a cast of more mercenary models, complied with gusto.
The chart includes 36 elements detailed in popup windows, starting with 1 Ob, Obviousman.
The entry reads, “States the blindingly obvious with the confidence of a Nobel laureate. Will inform you it is raining while you are both standing in the rain.”
As a rehash of things people have complained about on the internet, wrapped in interactive graphic packaging, it’s not bad.
According to Anthropic, interactive chart generation is now on by default. ®
An uninsured driver who killed a four-year-old girl after making a “split-second decision” to overtake has been jailed for five years and four months.
Mayar Yahia was walking home with her family from Eid celebrations on 14 April, 2024, when she was struck by a Vauxhall Corsa being driven by Javonnie Tavener, 23.
Two women were also seriously injured by Tavener, who initially left the scene but returned around 30 minutes later.
Mayar’s family said there were no “words that can truly describe how special she was, or how much we miss her”.
Image:Javonnie Tavener was jailed for five years and four months. Pic: West Midlands Police
Tavener pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing death by careless driving, causing death whilst driving uninsured, and two counts of causing serious injury by careless driving.
He was also disqualified from driving for six years.
Tavener was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court. Speaking after sentencing, Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes, from the West Midlands serious collision investigation unit, urged drivers to think about the incident and how decisions can have “catastrophic consequences”.
He added that Tavener had made no efforts to ring the emergency services in the aftermath of the crash on Upper Highgate Street, Birmingham.
Read more from Sky News:
In a tribute issued through the police, Mayar’s family said: “Mayar was an extraordinary child. She was full of love and always smiling, kind to everyone and made friends easily.
“She was cheerful and bright, and she brought happiness to everyone around her at home, in her school and her neighbourhood.”
Jurors delivered a mixed verdict Friday in the federal trial of nine people accused of carrying out a 2025 “ambush” attack on an ICE detention facility in North Texas.
Their verdict was delivered around 2:30 p.m. Friday at the federal courthouse in Fort Worth following roughly a day and a half of deliberations, FOX 4 News reported.
“The guilty verdicts in today’s case go to show this FBI’s 24/7 commitment to identifying, locating, and dismantling ANTIFA members and their networks,” Kash Patel told Fox News Digital.
Law enforcement officers gather outside the Prairieland Detention Center following an ambush in Alvarado, Texas, July 4, 2025.(Mark David Smith/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“I want to thank our Dallas field office and great partners for delivering justice. If you attack federal law enforcement this FBI will use every resource at our disposal to hunt you down.”
Benjamin Song was convicted of the most serious charge — attempted murder — for shooting Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross, according to FOX 4.
All but one of the nine defendants — Daniel Estrada — were found guilty of providing material support to terrorists, rioting, conspiring to use and carry explosives, and using explosives during a riot, FOX 4 reported.
Benjamin Song was convicted of attempted murder.(FBI)
Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Meagan Morris and Maricela Rueda were acquitted on three counts of attempted murder and three counts of discharging a firearm.
Song, however, was convicted on three firearm counts but acquitted on two of the attempted murder charges involving detention center employees, FOX 4 reported.
Estrada, who was not present the night of the incident, was convicted of concealing records and conspiracy to conceal documents.
Maricela Rueda was also convicted of conspiracy to conceal documents.
FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on Dec. 4, 2025.(Daniel Heuer/AFP via Getty Images)
Authorities say the July 4, 2025, attack outside the Prairieland ICE Detention Facility in Alvarado involved fireworks, damage to buildings and vehicles, and gunfire directed at officers.
Prosecutors argued the attack was orchestrated by Song and carried out by members of what they described as a North Texas Antifa cell, FOX 4 reported.
Sophia Compton is a Writer at Fox News Digital. Sophia was previously a business reporter covering finance, energy and tourism and has experience as a TV news producer. She graduated with a journalism degree in 2021 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Story tips can be sent to sophia.compton@fox.com.
The weather in the country is once again going to change rapidly. According to the latest forecast of the India Meteorological Department, an active western disturbance will enter northwest India from March 14. Due to its effect, there is a possibility of rain and snowfall in high altitude areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, while there may be thunderstorms, lightning and light rain in many parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. However, there is a possibility that the effects of heat and heat wave will continue in some parts of the country, especially Gujarat and Western Madhya Pradesh.
The maximum impact of western disturbance will be seen in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. According to the Meteorological Department, on March 14 and 15, there may be light to moderate rain in many areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh and snowfall in higher altitude areas. After this, there is a possibility of further increase in rain and snowfall activities in these states between March 15 and 18. Incidents of storm and lightning may also occur in some areas. During this period the wind speed can reach 30 to 50 kilometers per hour.
Weather will change from Uttar Pradesh to Punjab
In Uttarakhand too, there may be light rain in some parts of the state and snowfall in high mountains on March 14 and 15, while there is a possibility of rain in most areas of the state on March 15 and 16. It will also be visible in the plains of North India. According to the Meteorological Department, there is a possibility of light rain, thunderstorm and lightning in some parts of Punjab between March 14 and 17. Similar weather may prevail in Haryana and Chandigarh during March 15 to 17. There are chances of storm and rain in Uttar Pradesh on March 15 and 16. There may be rain and thundershowers in some parts of Rajasthan on March 14 and 15.
Heat wave threat in some states
While many areas may see a drop in temperature due to rain, heat may continue in some areas. According to the Meteorological Department, there is a possibility of heat wave in some parts of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Konkan-Goa. Apart from this, severe heat wave conditions may occur in some areas of Western Madhya Pradesh. There is currently no sign of respite from the sultry heat in Gujarat, Kerala and coastal Karnataka. Night temperatures may also remain high in Saurashtra and Kutch, which are called warm night conditions.
Jet stream is making the weather system stronger
The subtropical westerly jet stream is also active over the northwest. It is flowing at a height of about 12.6 kilometers and its wind speed is about 160 kilometers per hour. According to meteorologists, the jet stream plays an important role in strengthening western disturbances. When its speed increases, Western Disturbance also becomes more active, due to which the possibility of rain and snowfall increases.
Fear of storm in North-East India
A cyclonic circulation is currently active around Assam in Northeast India. Due to its impact, there is a possibility of strong storm, lightning and winds blowing at a speed of 40 to 50 kilometers per hour in Assam and Meghalaya. Apart from this, thunderstorms, lightning and thunderstorms may also occur in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Similar weather conditions have been predicted in the hilly areas of Sikkim and North Bengal.
A widow whose teacher-husband was killed in a senior prank gone terribly wrong has been granted her unusual request to drop the charges against the teens involved.
According to the Hall County Magistrate Court, a judge has approved paperwork requesting dismissal of the charges against Jayden Wallace, Aiden Hucks, Ana Katherine Luque, Ariana Cruz, and Elijah Tate Owens.
The five teens, who are all 18, went to math teacher Jason Hughes’ house on the night of March 6 to roll toilet paper on his trees, according to authorities in Gainesville, Georgia.
Jason and Laura Hughes were both teachers at North Hall High School. (Facebook/Laura Palmer Hughes)
As the group tried to leave in two separate vehicles, Hughes was walking toward the street when he tripped and fell into the slippery roadway, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office said.
He was then run over by a car driven by Wallace.
Rather than an angry confrontation, the father of two was “excited and waiting to catch them in the act,” his wife, Laura, told The New York Times.
“This is a terrible tragedy, and our family is determined to prevent a separate tragedy from occurring, ruining the lives of these students,” Hughes said. “This would be counter to Jason’s lifelong dedication of investing in the lives of these children.”
The Hugheses were both teachers at the public school and devoted their lives to teaching.
“As the family’s attorney, I join them in thanking the District Attorney’s office of the Northeastern Judicial Circuit for completing a thorough investigation and for the prompt decision to dismiss all criminal charges against Jayden and the other students who were present,” X said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“District Attorney Lee Darragh was able to act swiftly because the facts and circumstances are not in dispute,” he said. “Jayden and his friends were participating in a competitive game outside the home of their beloved teacher as part of a longtime junior-senior tradition at North Hall High School. As he was leaving the home, Jayden never saw Mr. Hughes, and Jayden’s vehicle had only traveled a few feet when the accident occurred.
“Vehicular Homicide charges were not warranted because Jayden never operated his truck in a dangerous, improper, or unsafe manner. In the end, there was no crime — only an extremely sad and devastating accident.
“Jayden is still grieving deeply but is determined to move forward eventually to live a life that would make Jason Hughes proud. The Wallace family would also like to thank the North Hall community for the prayers and loving support that have been offered to the Hughes and Wallace families.
“Parents Jeremy and Kristen Wallace, along with their son Jayden, also encourage donations to the GoFundMe account established for the Hughes family as well as your continued prayers for Laura Hughes and her children.”
According to the Hall County School District, Hughes was a teacher at North Hall High School. He was listed as a math teacher on the school’s website. The school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes posted on its Facebook that Hughes was also a golf coach at the school.(Facebook/Laura Palmer Hughes)
Along with being a math teacher at the high school, the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes posted on its Facebook that Hughes was a golf coach at the school.
In a statement to FOX 5, the school said, “Our hearts are broken. Jason Hughes was a loving husband, a devoted father; a passionate teacher, mentor, and coach who was loved and respected by students and colleagues. He gave so much to so many in numerous ways. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife and family. We ask that the media and the public respect their privacy as they grieve.”
In a GoFundMe, a family friend asked for funds to help with future planning for his two children.
“Jason’s life was a blessing to so many, and his untimely passing will be indescribably difficult for his wife and two young boys for years to come,” the fundraiser said.
Microsoft is investigating a new issue affecting some Samsung laptops running Windows 11 after installing the February 2026 security updates, in which users lose access to their C:\ drive and are unable to launch applications.
The company says it is working with Samsung to determine whether the problem is related to the Windows updates or Samsung software installed on affected devices.
“Users might encounter the error, ‘C:\ is not accessible – Access denied’, which prevents access to files and blocks the launch of some applications including Outlook, Office apps, web browsers, system utilities and Quick Assist,” explains Microsoft.
Microsoft says these errors can appear during normal Windows usage on a Samsung device, such as when accessing files, launching applications, or performing administrative tasks. In some cases, the permission problems can prevent users from elevating privileges, uninstalling updates, or accessing logs.
The problem has been reported mostly in Brazil, Portugal, South Korea, and India, and is primarily impacting Samsung Galaxy Book 4 and other Samsung consumer devices.
Microsoft says its latest investigation suggests the issue may be related to the Samsung Share application, though the exact root cause has not yet been confirmed.
At this time, the issue only impacts systems running Windows 11 version 25H2 and 24H2.
While Microsoft has not shared a temporary solution, a Reddit user claiming to be a Samsung technician in Brazil has posted a workaround that some affected users say restores access to the C:\ drive.
However, the workaround requires changing the ownership of the entire C:\ drive and all subfolders to the “Everyone” group, including system directories and files that are normally owned by TrustedInstaller or SYSTEM.
Changing ownership of system files in this way weakens Windows’ built-in security protections. Therefore, users should avoid applying the workaround unless absolutely necessary and instead wait for a fix from Microsoft.
Malware is getting smarter. The Red Report 2026 reveals how new threats use math to detect sandboxes and hide in plain sight.
Download our analysis of 1.1 million malicious samples to uncover the top 10 techniques and see if your security stack is blinded.
A federal judge ruled on Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must release a Minneapolis man and asylum seeker who has been unlawfully detained for 50 days.
The man, identified as Elvis Joel TE in court filings, was arrested on 22 January at the height of ICE’s aggressive raids in Minneapolis. The case sparked widespread outrage as Elvis TE was detained with his two-year-old daughter while they were returning home from the store, and ICE quickly flew both of them to Texas despite a court order barring their transfer out of Minnesota.
His toddler was released to her mother the following day in response to a judge’s order, but the father, who is from Ecuador, has remained detained, even though he has a pending asylum case.
The US judge, Katherine Menendez, ruled on Friday there was no basis to keep Elvis TE in custody, saying he was “not properly detained” under the laws cited by the government.
US border patrol agents apprehended Elvis TE near Brownsville, Texas in May 2024, shortly after he crossed the border, at which point he claimed asylum, the judge wrote. He was then granted humanitarian parole, which means he was allowed to stay in the US as his asylum application moved its way through the process.
The government argued he should remain detained until his case was adjudicated, but the judge rejected those arguments, noting he was not subject to mandatory detention and agents did not have a warrant to arrest him in the first place.
The circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of a toddler were particularly cruel and unjustified, the lawyers said.
As the father and daughter were arriving home on the afternoon of 22 January, agents entered their backyard and driveway area without a warrant and broke the glass window of the father’s car while the girl was inside, one of his attorneys wrote in an affidavit.
The girl’s mother was by the door of the home and calling out to her partner, who was attempting to bring their child to her, the lawyer said. As ICE agents approached the mother, she stepped inside, and the officers allegedly refused to allow Elvis TE to “bring his daughter to her mother or the other family members waiting terrified inside the home”.
The father and toddler were then placed in an ICE vehicle, which did not have a carseat, the family’s lawyer said.
The two-year-old girl who was detained with her by federal agents in January. Photograph: Handout photo, published with permission from the family’s attorney
The arrest sparked protests from community members gathered outside, prompting officers to launch “crowd control measures”, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said at the time. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported at the time that agents appeared to use chemical irritants and flash-bang devices.
Soon after the arrest, lawyers filed an emergency petition demanding their release. Menendez, the Minnesota-based federal judge, issued an order that evening prohibiting the government from moving them out of state, which could impede the family’s ability to challenge their detention. The judge also ordered the girl immediately released due to the “risk of irreparable harm”, writing of the toddler: “Needless to say, she has no criminal history.”
But the government put the two on a flight to Texas about 20 minutes after the judge ruled they could not be removed, lawyers said. The government flew the two of them back to Minnesota the following day, but kept the father detained.
The judge on Friday ordered that he be released by no later than Sunday.
“Our client was torn from his family and has been unlawfully detained for 50 days and it has absolutely gutted him,” Chelsea Walcker, one of Elvis TE’s lawyers, said by phone soon after the ruling.
Walcker, chief legal officer of Groundwork Legal, a Minnesota-based public interest law firm, said “misuse of government authority was evident at every step of the case”: “They broke his car with his two-year-old daughter inside. They arrested him without a warrant. They put him on a plane in violation of a court order. Then they held him, unlawfully, without any legal basis for months, separated from his partner and daughter.”
The toll on the family was severe, Walcker said. The girl, she noted, was first separated from her mother during the chaotic arrest. When the judge ordered her released, but not her father, her lawyers had to temporarily take custody of her to bring her home.
“It was awful. She’s two. She didn’t understand what was happening. She had to be pried from her father’s arms in order to return her to mom,” Walcker said. “That will be imprinted on her for the rest of her life. That is something no child should ever have to experience.”
DHS and Department of Justice spokespeople did not immediately respond to inquiries. At the time of Elvis TE’s arrest, a DHS spokesperson called him an “illegal immigrant”, said he had been “driving erratically” and claimed that the girl’s mother had refused to take her.
Walcker expressed gratitude to the judge for recognizing the detention was unlawful, but noted: “So many other families never get this chance.”
Unlike Elvis TE, others arrested by ICE in Minnesota have been transferred out of state before they can secure representation or file a petition challenging their detention, making it significantly harder for them to fight their cases, Walcker said.
His arrest came the same week ICE detained five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, with photos of the boy being taken into custody sparking global backlash. He and his father were sent to Texas, then later released following the advocacy of a congressman.
“Families are being taken from the streets and disappeared from their workplaces and communities,” Walcker said. “Lives are being torn apart and the government must be held accountable.”
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., claimed he offered Republicans a chance to spare the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from the ongoing government shutdown that’s poised to hit the one-month mark on Saturday after another failed DHS vote on Thursday.
Republicans believe the offer was little more than political theater that ignored the core of the funding gridlock as concerns about Iranian sleeper cell threats and airport chaos rise.
“I just offered a UC to fund FEMA and Republicans shot it down,” Schiff said, referring to the Senate process to pass legislation on the spot, known as “unanimous consent.”
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., a lawmaker who has blocked UCs on the shutdown in the past, blasted Democrats for, in her view, trying to punt the negotiations on larger DHS disagreements.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) appears on “Meet the Press” in Washington D.C., Sunday, October 5, 2025.(Shannon Finney/NBC) via Getty Images)
“We would like that opportunity to continue funding the Department of Homeland Security in its entirety. Look, the people who sent us here expect more,” Britt said in remarks on the Senate floor.
“They expect us to have tough conversations. They expect us to figure out a pathway forward. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to do today.”
A fired-up Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., accused Senate Democrats of trying to rip the agency apart at a moment it was designed for, as the war in Iran has spurred threats of retaliation in the U.S. by sleeper cells.
“And that’s at a time when our homeland is under attack, all warning lights are flashing red, and they want to peel apart, piece by piece, the Department of Homeland Security, the comprehensive department of our government to protect the American people, because they want to stand with illegal immigrant criminals,” Barrasso said.
Schumer declared that Senate Democrats would continue to provide piecemeal funding bills to reopen certain portions of the agency, like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), while negotiations continued.
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on February 14 over gridlock of a set of demands Democrats made regarding operational reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — reforms Republicans believe will handcuff President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Among other items, Democrats have demanded a no-mask policy, an end to roaming patrols, stiffer warrant requirements for detentions and clearly visible identification for ICE agents.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2026, that, “In a dangerous attempt to evade arrest,” a “criminal illegal alien weaponized his vehicle and rammed law enforcement” in Compton, Calif. Criminal illegal alien allegedly rammed law enforcement in California operation. (KTTV)
Although talks are ongoing, lawmakers have said critical disagreements remain.
Like ICE, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) operates under DHS alongside other agencies like the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced concern that the unrelated reforms to ICE that Democrats have demanded are threatening the country’s readiness to respond to natural disasters.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., hinted that Democrats would like to eliminate that possibility.
“We just asked for a UC to get it done… so,” Cantwell said on the DHS funding dispute.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is seen as FEMA is making preparations for a winter storm set to impact much of the U.S. in early 2026.(DHS photo by Tia Dufour)
According to Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Katie Britt, R-Ala., DHS employees missed their first full paycheck this week. Additionally, FEMA reserve funding has dropped to $4 billion, the primary account used to coordinate disaster response and recovery efforts.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
Planned Parenthood officials in Colorado are criticizing Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., over legislation he introduced Wednesday that would revoke federal approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, sending a fundraising email to supporters.
“Yesterday, Sen. Josh Hawley introduced legislation to remove the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, the safe and widely used medication that has been part of abortion care in the United States for more than 25 years,” Sarah Taylor-Nanista, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado, said in an email to supporters that also asked for donations.
On her LinkedIn page, Taylor-Nanista is listed as the chief of external affairs at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine Texas’ abortion law on Capitol Hill Sept. 29, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Tom Williams/Pool/Getty Images)
“This bill is built on false claims that the medication is ‘inherently dangerous,’ despite decades of scientific evidence showing that mifepristone is safer than many over-the-counter medications — including Tylenol,” Taylor-Nanista added.
Mifepristone blocks progesterone, a hormone needed to sustain pregnancy, and is typically followed by misoprostol to complete the abortion.
Hawley’s legislation, the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, would revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone for abortion, allow women who say they were harmed by chemical abortions to sue manufacturers and make the labeling and distribution of mifepristone for abortion violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
“No amount of profit justifies what has happened to these women,” Hawley told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Congress must ban the chemical abortion drug and empower women to sue its manufacturers.”
Before introducing the bill, Hawley cited concerns about a recent study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, authored by Ryan T. Anderson, the organization’s president, and Jamie Bryan Hall, its director of data analysis.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley introduced legislation to ban the abortion pill mifepristone.(Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters; Tom Williams/Pool/Getty Images)
The study reviewed a claims database that included 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023 and found that 10.93% of women “experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a Mifepristone abortion.”
In October, Hawley accused the FDA of endangering women’s health, saying the agency approved the chemical abortion drug without the thorough safety review it had promised.
In her email, Taylor-Nanista argued the bill “isn’t about safety.”
“This is about shutting down abortion access — especially medication abortion — at a moment when millions rely on it,” Taylor-Nanista said. “Since the fall of Roe, medication abortion has become a critical lifeline for patients in states where abortion care has been banned. And that’s exactly why extremists are targeting it now.”
She added that the legislation is “part of a broader strategy to ban telehealth abortion nationwide and strip people of their fundamental rights, forcing patients back into the very barriers that medication abortion and telehealth help overcome.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Taylor-Nanista and the FDA for comment.
Taylor-Nanista said Sen. Josh Hawley’s legislation “is about shutting down abortion access — especially medication abortion — at a moment when millions rely on it.” (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
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”.
