Justice aide resigns over prosecutor firings

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned over the firing of U.S. prosecutors and Gonzales pledged on Tuesday to get to the bottom of a growing flap that has embarrassed the White House and prompted calls for him to step down.

Democrats in the U.S. Congress vowed to quickly expand their investigation into whether the dismissal of eight prosecutors, some of whom had been criticized by Republicans, was politically motivated interference by the White House.

The Senate Judiciary Committee and a House Judiciary subcommittee held hearings on the dismissals last week, and Democratic leaders said there would soon be more and, if needed, subpoenas served to require witnesses to testify.

"I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility," Gonzales told a brief news conference at the Justice Department.

"My pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here, to assess accountability and to make improvements so the mistakes that occurred in this instance do not occur again in the future," he said.

U.S. attorneys are appointed by the president, who can remove them from office for any reason. President George W. Bush believes Gonzales made the right decision in firing the eight U.S. attorneys, said White House counselor Dan Bartlett.

"The president has all the confidence in the world in Alberto Gonzales," Bartlett told reporters covering Bush in Merida, Mexico.

On Democratic calls to question Karl Rove or other White House advisers, Bartlett said, "I find it highly unlikely that a member of the White House staff would testify to these matters."