The Foley Timeline
Sept. 28, 2006: ABC News reports on the E-mail exchange with the Louisiana teenager. Foley's Democratic challenger, Tim Mahoney, calls for an investigation into the exchange. (AP)
Sept. 29, 2006: Revelations emerge of sexually explicit instant messages Foley sent in 2003 to former pages. Foley resigns. The House votes to refer the matter to the Ethics Committee. (AP)
Sept. 30, 2006: Hastert says he is setting up a hot line for current and former pages and their families to report problems about the page program. (AP)
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement opens an inquiry into Foley's online communication with the former House pages. (Miami Herald)
Oct. 1, 2006:Hastert writes a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking for an investigation of Foley's conduct. Hastert writes a similar letter to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. (AP)
– An FBI spokesman confirms the agency is "conducting an assessment to see if there's been a violation of federal law." (AP)
Oct. 2, 2006: Foley's attorney says the former congressman is battling alcoholism and has checked into a rehabilitation facility. He says, "Based on the information that I have, Mark Foley has never, ever had an inappropriate sexual contact with a minor in his life. He is absolutely, positively not a pedophile." (Scripps Howard News Service)
Oct. 2, 2006: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issues a statement claiming GOP leaders knew about Foley for up to a year and calls for their investigation under oath by the Ethics Committee.
– Michigan Rep. Dale Kildee, the only Democrat on the House Page Board, is left out of a Hastert-Shimkus meeting regarding page safety. Kildee, a member of the board since 1985, was not present when Hastert and Shimkus announced a revamped effort to secure the safety of pages. Kildee had earlier expressed outrage that he was left out of the discussion about Foley when Shimkus was first told of the matter nearly a year earlier.
Oct. 3, 2006: The Washington Times calls for Hastert's resignation. His spokesman, Ron Bonjean, issues a statement that says the speaker "has and will lead the Republican conference to another majority in the 110th Congress."
– President Bush, in a speech at the George W. Bush Elementary School in Stockton, Calif., says, "I was dismayed and shocked to learn about Congressman Foley's unacceptable behavior. I was disgusted by the revelations and disappointed that he would violate the trust of the–of the citizens who have placed him in office." He continues, "I fully support Speaker Hastert's call for an investigation by law enforcement into this matter. This investigation should be thorough, and any violations of the law should be prosecuted." (Federal News Transcripts)
–House Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, in an interview aired on Cincinnati radio station WLW, said of Hastert and the Foley issue, "I believe I talked to the speaker and he told me it had been taken care of. My position is it's in his corner, it's his responsibility. The clerk of the House who runs the page program, the Page Board–all report to the speaker. And I believe it had been dealt with." (Bloomberg News) Three days earlier, the Washington Post had reported that Boehner first told the paper he had informed Hastert of the Foley issue, then called later to say that he hadn't.
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