White House Closes Ranks Over 'purge' of Prosecutors

The White House yesterday rejected calls by Congress for its senior staff to give evidence in the growing row over the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors.

Congress is demanding that Karl Rove, George Bush's chief political adviser, and others appear before an investigation into allegations that the eight were dismissed on political grounds.

Democratic members of Congress say that some of them had been resisting pressure by Republicans to speed up an investigation into alleged Democratic election wrong-doing.

The attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, yesterday accepted that mistakes over the dismissals had been made but refused to resign.

The White House counsellor, Dan Bartlett, said the president stood by Mr Gonzales. "He is a stand-up guy," he said.

Democratic party members in Congress have been angered by revelations that the dismissal of the eight had been discussed beforehand by Mr Bush and Mr Rove.

Until emails were released showing that the White House was involved, the justice department had insisted the decision on the dismissals had been taken by it alone.

Mr Bartlett said that the president was entitled to discuss issues relating to management of the prosecutors.

Congress can only force into giving evidence those in the Bush administration who had to be first endorsed by Congress. This does not apply to Mr Rove, who can refuse to appear.