Timeline | John McKay's fall from favor

• Oct. 30, 2001: Seattle attorney John McKay, a Bush administration nominee, is sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington.

• Aug. 8, 2006: Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, writes to the White House to complain that McKay, seeking a federal judgeship, apparently "got screwed" by the state judicial selection committee. "Can we let them know that we want to consider him ... ?"

• Aug. 9: Sampson writes to White House, saying the Democrats on the committee, the state's two Democratic senators, and two prominent Republicans "strongly support him" for the judgeship. (McKay did not have the support of the three Republicans on the committee.) Debra Wong Yang, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, writes Sampson to say McKay would be "terrific in that job and has really done good work ... but you know that already." Sampson replies that her information "is very helpful; I'm on it."

• Aug. 22: McKay meets with White House counsel Harriet Miers to discuss the judgeship.

• Aug. 30: McKay, in a letter signed by 16 other U.S. attorneys and sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and outside agencies, asks Deputy Attorney Paul McNulty, the No. 2 man at Justice — to meet and discuss the LInX law-enforcement data-sharing system. The letter is critical of delays in implementing and funding the system.

• Aug. 31: A DOJ e-mail to two McNulty deputies criticizes McKay's letter. "I don't know what McKay's motives are, but this is embarrassing and outrageous," writes Mark Connor. Connor's job title is unclear.

• Sept. 5: McNulty replies to McKay and the others who signed the letter: "I am quite disappointed that you have chosen to communicate with me in this way. ... It reads like a letter from Capitol Hill, not from friends on the same team."

• Sept. 8: Replying to McNulty, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg in Virginia writes: "Some are chagrined and embarrassed. ... Some are mad at John McKay and are happy to let him take the heat."

• Sept. 13: In an e-mail to Miers, Sampson names McKay as a U.S. attorney "we should consider pushing out."

• Sept. 22: A letter from McKay to local law-enforcement agencies warning of DOJ budget cuts is quoted in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Michael Elston, McNulty's chief of staff, complains to his boss: "Even when he is in Ireland he causes problems! He needs to stop writing letters."

• Dec. 7: DOJ tells McKay to resign.