Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, also called for an investigation by the Justice Department. “The allegations against Congressman Foley are repugnant, but equally as bad is the possibility that Republican leaders in the House of Representatives knew there was a problem and ignored it to preserve a Congressional seat this election year,” Mr. Reid said. The public deserves “a full accounting for this despicable episode,” he added.

In his letter to Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Hastert drew a line between what he described as “two different and distinct communications at issue here” — the e-mail messages to the Louisiana boy that Republicans considered “overfriendly,” and the more intimate messages that surfaced later and that leaders say they never saw.

Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for Ms. Pelosi, said Mr. Hastert seemed “more concerned by who revealed the Republican leadership’s cover-up of Mr. Foley’s Internet stalking” than about the pages.

Mr. Hastert also wrote Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida asking for an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The authorities there, both local and state, said on Sunday that they had not begun one so far.

Garry Wilson, chief deputy sheriff in St. Lucie County, said his office would not try to search Mr. Foley’s condominium on Hutchinson Island unless a complaint was filed against him in the county or unless state or federal law enforcement directed the sheriff’s office to do so.

In Washington, the clerk of the House has taken responsibility for Mr. Foley’s Congressional office, and the locks have been changed. Associates of Mr. Foley said he was apparently in seclusion in Florida.

For a third straight day, fallout surrounding Mr. Foley’s resignation worried the weary ranks of Congressional Republicans. As representatives begin the final month of campaigning before the midterm elections, several Republican advisers said on Sunday that they feared that the scandal over the e-mail messages threatened to complicate their efforts. If nothing else, they said, it provides another reason for voters to be displeased with Congress.