US: At 7 p.m. on Friday the White House was still supporting President George Bush's nomination of Bernard Kerik as head of homeland security, even faxing out talking points to a Congressman going on television to defend the choice.
Ninety minutes later the former New York police commissioner telephoned Mr Bush to withdraw his nomination, saying he had discovered problems with the immigration status of a former nanny.
Mr Kerik (49) said he had hired an undocumented immigrant to look after his children and had not paid taxes for her, which made him unsuitable for a post that involved supervision of immigration laws.
"I owe the president a great apology that this may have caused him and his administration a big distraction," Mr Kerik said later.
The nanny problem may not however have been the only impediment to a nomination that became a major embarrassment for Mr Bush and former New York mayor Mr Rudi Giuliani, who recommended Mr Kerik for the job. A week after the president announced his choice for Homeland Security, the second biggest federal department, several questions about Mr Kerik's complex personal and professional past had surfaced in newspaper reports.
On Friday Newsweek had faxed to the White House a copy of a 1988 arrest warrant for Mr Kerik issued by a New Jersey judge. Mr Kerik, who has made millions of dollars since 9/11 as an anti-terrorism consultant and company director, faced bankruptcy six years ago over a condominium he owned in New Jersey.
Newsweek disclosed that the arrest warrant, which was never enforced and which Mr Kerik had apparently not mentioned in the vetting process, was related to the non-payment of $5,000 in maintenance fees on the property.
The withdrawal of the nomination was, however, directly tied to Mr Kerik's admission that he had employed a woman who entered the US illegally, contrary to earlier assurances he gave White House officials.
"Nanny" issues have blocked nominations before: President Bill Clinton had to withdraw the nomination of Zoe Baird as Attorney General in 1993 in similar circumstances.
Mr Kerik reportedly denied several times to White House officials that he had a nanny problem, but said that while going through documents on Friday he uncovered information "that now leads me to question the immigration status" of his housekeeper and to admit that "required tax payments" had not been made. The nanny left the country two weeks ago, Mr Kerik said, and he refused to identify her or her nationality.
The New Jersey newspaper Newsday reported yesterday that another potential problem overshadowed the nomination.
On Thursday, Mr Kerik was forced to testify in a civil lawsuit about an alleged affair with a subordinate. The plaintiff, a former deputy prison warden, alleged that as head of New York prisons between 1998 and 2000, Mr Kerik blocked his promotion because he had reprimanded the woman.
On Friday, Mr Kerik's lawyer was in another court fending off other allegations against him brought by another former prison supervisor, Newsday claimed. Mr Kerik also faced questions about making over $5 million from stock options in stun-gun maker Taser International, without investing any capital.
Congressman Peter King, who received the faxed talking points from the White House on Friday evening, said officials there seemed to have been caught off guard.
He said he talked with the president and his political strategist Mr Karl Rove on Monday and both were enthusiastic about the nomination.
The blunder over Mr Kerik has clearly hurt Mr Giuliani, who was his patron for many years and who is tipped as Republican candidate for president in 2008.
The former New York mayor had lobbied the White house to give the high-profile homeland security job to his protegé and business partner.
Mr Giuliani said on Saturday he had apologised to the White House, adding: "It's an embarrassment to me and to Bernie and those of us who supported him."
Both Mr Giuliani and Mr Kerik, national icons for their role in New York after the September 11th attacks, campaigned hard for Mr Bush's re-election.