US President George W. Bush on Tuesday vowed to resist any attempt by Congress to force top aides to testify under oath about a row over fired prosecutors.
In his boldest political language since Democrats seized Congress last November, Bush accused his opponents of using the escalating showdown to "score political points" and refused to back down.
Faced with a fierce new partisan fight as he tries to breath life into a second-term administration hampered by the unpopular Iraq war, Bush warned: "We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition."
The president earlier personally endorsed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is facing calls for his ouster over the dismissal of eight prosecutors which critics claim was politically motivated.
The White House also branded as "completely false" reports that it was already scouting for a replacement for Gonzales, a trusted member of Bush's Texas inner circle, desperate to thwart Democrats' demands for blood.
"I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials," Bush said, throwing down the gauntlet for his Democratic foes.
The administration has agreed to let key figures in the drama, including Bush's top political adviser Karl Rove, meet congressional investigators, but not to testify under oath.
Bush did, however, admit the episode had been poorly handled following sometimes contradictory explanations of the prosecutor firings by various administration officials, though he noted it was within his power to dismiss US Attorneys.
But the Senate moved to ensure it has a say in filling US Attorney vacancies, voting 94-2 for legislation requiring that replacements be subject to its confirmation.
Bush offered to send Gonzales and his staff to testify before Congress and noted the administration had turned over 3,000 pages of documents in a bid to shed light on the reasons the US Attorneys were fired.
Bush raised the issue of executive privilege, the convention which is supposed to safeguard a president's capacity to receive candid counsel from advisers, saying aides should not fear being hauled before investigations.
But Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer refused to accept the White House reasoning, saying key figures must be forced to testify under oath.
"What is the objection to an oath? If there's nothing to hide and everyone is telling the truth, there should be no objection. What is the objection to having this discussion in public?" Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Bush's endorsement for Gonzales, whom he handpicked to be his lawyer in 1995 while still governor of Texas, came in an early morning call from the Oval Office, Bush's spokesman Tony Snow said.
"He expressed his support for the attorney general and his strong backing," Snow said by telephone.
After being forced to remove secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld following the Republicans' defeat in November congressional elections, the White House is desperate not to hand Democrats the scalp of another key administration figure.
Gonzales has also come under fire over an internal probe that found that the FBI, part of his department, breached privacy laws in overzealously seeking access to information about terror suspects.
The head of the Department of Justice's probe, Glenn Fine, said he believed the FBI's violations were "serious and unacceptable."
The controversy at the Justice Department is yet another blow to Bush, who has sunk to his lowest level in opinion polls.
In the past weeks the administration has been fending off scandals over the care of wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the conviction of a former White House aide for perjury and the prosecutors affair.
Bush has also locked horns with the Democratic-controlled Congress over the war, with the House of Representatives due to debate this week a Democratic attempt to set a timetable for withdrawing US forces from Iraq.
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