Gonzales under pressure to quit over sacked federal prosecutors

A tepid endorsement from President George Bush has if anything only heightened the pressure on his Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, as he fights to stave off demands for his resignation from Congressional Democrats outraged at his role in the sacking last year of eight federal prosecutors.

Speaking in Mexico at the end of his own protest-plagued visit to Latin America, Mr Bush acknowledged that "mistakes had been made and, frankly, I'm not happy about them" in the affair, in which the White House is accused of blatant political meddling in Justice Department business.

Mr Gonzales and his staff were entirely within their rights in removing the prosecutors, the President said. What had been mishandled had been the explanations offered to Congress, and it was up to the Attorney General to put that right. In fact, Mr Gonzales, who on Tuesday himself admitted that "mistakes had been made", plans to go to Capitol Hill later this week to make peace with the senators.

That, however, will not be easy. Democrats are up in arms at what they claim were politically motivated firings of prosecutors who allegedly soft-pedalled investigations of Democrats before last November's mid-term elections, and generally failed to toe the line on Bush administration policy.

Mr Gonzales has few committed allies even among Congressional Republicans, as erstwhile supporters of a highly unpopular president seek to take their distance from the White House. That unpopularity moreover stems in part from controversies in which the Attorney General was involved, including unauthorised domestic wire-tapping and the denial of basic legal rights to detained terrorist suspects. Some key Bush advisers are said to believe that Mr Gonzales is now a liability to the administration.

This President is famous for his loyalty to old political retainers like Mr Gonzales, who has been at his side since his days in the Texas governor's mansion, and in Mexico Mr Bush issued the ritual statement of confidence obligatory on such occasions. But his comment that "the Attorney General... needs to continue to take action" to put right the communications problem with Capitol Hill, represents lukewarm backing by his standards.

For the beleaguered White House, the affair has been an object lesson in the changed realities in Washington, after the Democrats took back Congress last November. Had Republicans still been in charge, Mr Gonzales would probably have never been challenged over the firings. Instead the dismissed judges set out their grievances in public last week at committee hearings convened by the new majority. If his private explanations do not satisfy his Capitol Hill inquisitors, the Attorney General will probably find himself in the hot seat.

Under the constitution, federal prosecutors are nominated by the President. Although they are formally confirmed by the Senate, they can be dismissed by him at any time. However, a little noticed clause in a Bill last year allowed the White House to name "temporary" replacements, without the need for immediate approval. This has fanned the belief that the administration was seeking to tighten its grip on the judiciary by bypassing Congress altogether. If so, the manoeuvre has backfired. Mr Gonzales' evasive behaviour has only served to enrage Democrats, who now threaten to issue subpoenas against Karl Rove, Mr Bush's top political adviser, and other top officials, in order to find out how far the White House itself was involved in ordering the sackings.

Courting controversy

* Alberto Gonzales has long been an ally of George Bush, having been general counsel to the then Texas Governor in 1994.

* As White House counsel, Mr Gonzales was at the centre of controversy for policies that permitted 'enhanced interrogation' of foreign prisoners.

* He was also condemned for being behind Mr Bush's warrantless domestic spying programme.

* Last November legal proceedings against Mr Gonzales were launched in Germany, accusing him of responsibility for the abuse of prisoners.