Paul Wolfowitz on Wednesday began discussing possible terms for his resignation as president of the World Bank.
Although the White House was publicly standing by Mr Wolfowitz, his position looked tenuous, as the US administration appeared close to giving up the fight to keep him in office.
However, officials said that his agreed departure should not be taken for granted if he could not secure satisfactory terms.
Just before 6pm ET, the bank’s board, which had been meeting throughout the day, adjourned and put out a terse statement saying that members would continue their deliberations on Thursday.
Mr Wolfowitz was understood to be seeking an acknowledgment of his service that both he and the Bank shared responsibility for the controversy over a generous secondment package to the state department awarded to Shaha Riza, his girlfriend.
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A devastating report on Monday into his role in the secondment found that he broke the bank’s code of conduct, three staff rules and the terms of his contract.
His lawyer, Robert Bennett, insisted he would not leave “under a cloud” and would rather risk the prospect of a formal vote on the board to censure or dismiss him.
Many members of the board, however, strongly resist the idea that they should accept part of the responsibility for what the report judged were Mr Wolfowitz’s ethics violations.
Some want to ratchet up the pressure on Mr Wolfowitz by formally endorsing the findings of the report, a possible prelude to a no-confidence vote.
The US has so far resisted endorsing the findings, and wants to separate them at least conceptually from any agreed resignation.
The discussions over a possible exit deal came amid a day of high drama at the board, where an increasingly isolated US representative was pressed to accept that Mr Wolfowitz could no longer continue as bank president.
The push to drive Mr Wolfowitz out was led by European representatives, but drew wide support from other regions of the world. With Canada now accepting that Mr Wolfowitz should go, only Japan remained in the US camp.
Resignation of the World Bank president in circumstances of good health would be unprecedented in the bank’s history and mark what could be an enduring shift in the balance of power at the institution, which has traditionally been dominated by the US and the president it nominates.
It would also bring to a close a turbulent two-year period in which Mr Wolfowitz clashed with bank staff and shareholders over his implementation of a controversial anti-corruption drive and his reliance on a small coterie of aides with Republican party connections, before being consumed by controversy over Ms Riza.
The pressure on Mr Wolfowitz to step down has been growing all week. South African finance minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday joined calls for his resignation. A German official told him he would not be welcome at a meeting in Berlin next week.
Speculation swirled over possible successors to Mr Wolfowitz. Some people close to the administration suggested that Bob Zoellick, the former deputy secretary of state, could be nominated for the job. Other sources speculated that Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, could be brought in as an interim president.
