Updated: Mike McHaney Held
Mike McHaney was ordered held without bond following a brief hearing Wednesday afternoon in federal court. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and blue jacket, McHaney responded "Yes, sir," when questioned by Magistrate Judge John Facciola.
According to The Washington Post , "McHaney was fired Friday from his job as a scheduler for Cantwell, D-Wash., hours after he was arrested by FBI agents. The FBI said in a charging document that McHaney tried to set up a meeting with a witness posing online as a 13-year-old boy.
McHaney, a native of Little Rock, Ark., did advance work for both Gephardt, a former Missouri congressman, and Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, in their 2004 campaigns, Democrats said Wednesday.
A spokesman for Kerry confirmed that McHaney worked for the campaign from February to November 2004, but declined to comment.
Following the election McHaney worked for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, before being hired by Cantwell in July 2006.
Cantwell's chief of staff, Michael Meehan, is a veteran political operative who worked on the Kerry campaign before joining Cantwell's staff.
McHaney's lawyer, Thomas Abbenante, said in court Wednesday that his client would not exercise his right to a speedy trial, agreeing to a Jan. 14 court date. The nature of the charges, which involve allegations of extensive online communications between McHaney and the unidentified witness, require time to study, Abbenante said."