Washington DC, Dec 5 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was having an extramarital affair with an aide Melodee Hanes, when he nominated her to be Montana U.S. attorney, his office said.

Melodee Hanes was formerly the director of the senator’s state office, and she was one of three names Baucus, D-Montana, forwarded to President Barack Obama to be considered for the U.S. attorney job, Roll Call reported.

Later Melodee Hanes felt that it was not appropriate that she be considered for the prestigious job, just on account of being Max Baucus’s mistress so she withdrew her name from consideration.

Baucus divorced his wife Wanda. And now Max Baucus and Hanes, live together in Washington, after beginning their affair last year.

Tyler Matsdorf, a Baucus spokesman, said Hanes obtained her current job in the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention on her own merits. He said, “Senator Baucus is currently in a mature and happy relationship with Melodee Hanes. They are both divorced, and in no way was their relationship the cause of their respective divorces,”