U.S. & World

WASHINGTON (CBS News) ― Democrats pressed for more answers on the firings of U.S. attorneys Thursday even as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted he hasn't remembered any new details. Republicans demanded that the investigation be closed.

"My feelings and recollections about this matter have not changed," Gonzales told the House Judiciary Committee, three weeks after telling a Senate panel he couldn't recall specific conversations or details in response to more than 70 questions.

Gonzales won more support from House Republicans than he got from their counterparts on the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, when only one GOP senator defended the embattled attorney general.

This time, Republicans echoed Gonzales' call to move on, indicating that the embattled attorney general may have weathered the political storm.

"The list of accusations has mushroomed, but the evidence of wrongdoing has not," said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the committee's senior GOP member. "If there are no fish in this lake, we should reel in our lines of questions, dock our empty boat and turn to more pressing issues."

Democrats showed no willingness to quit asking questions about whether White House officials ordered the firings of prosecutors not sufficiently loyal to the Bush administration. Democrats probed whether the Justice Department scuttled more prosecutors than the eight jettisoned over the winter, asking about prosecutor resignations in Los Angeles and Missouri.

"The department's most precious asset — its reputation for integrity and independence — has been called into question," said committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. "Until we get to the bottom of how this list was created, and why, those doubts will persist."

"Cooperate with us," Conyers appealed to Gonzales.

"I'm trying, Mr. Chairman," the attorney general replied.

Having survived months of calls for his resignation, Gonzales appeared less nervous. He acknowledged a sinking morale at the Justice Department in the wake of the prosecutor firings but made it clear he plans to remain as attorney general — despite what he described as his mistakes in overseeing the dismissals.

Republican members of the House panel moved on to other subjects — though much of this questioning was no more friendly.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., asked why there had been no new developments in the federal bribery probe of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La.

"I cannot talk about that," Gonzales replied.

"Well, everyone is talking about it except you," Sensenbrenner shot back. "This is kind of embarrassing."

The questioning quickly turned back to the fired prosecutors.

Under persistent questioning Thursday about who originated the list of prosecutors to be fired, Gonzales maintained his former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, put it together after gathering information from other senior officials in the Justice Department.

"I understood it to be the consensus of the senior leadership of the department," Gonzales said. He acknowledged, however, that presidential adviser Karl Rove raised concerns with Gonzales about voter fraud prosecutions in three jurisdictions, including New Mexico. David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney there, was later fired.

Democrats focused on whether Todd Graves, a former federal prosecutor in Missouri, was forced out a year before the others because he refused to sign a Justice Department lawsuit alleging voter fraud a year before the 2006 elections. As the Senate Judiciary Committee requested answers from Graves' replacement, House lawmakers sought answers from Gonzales.

"I have no basis to believe that case had anything to do with Mr. Graves' departure," Gonzales said under questioning from Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

Graves, who resigned, said Wednesday he had no inkling he was on a list of attorneys targeted for replacement.

"When I first interviewed in 2001 with the United States attorney screening committee at DOJ, I was asked to give the panel one attribute that describes me," Graves said. "I said 'independent.' Apparently, that was the wrong attribute."

In an interview with the Washington Post, Graves said he was told he should resign to "give another person a chance." Graves said he did not oppose the request, because he was planning to go back into private practice.

Gonzales also said that Debra Yang, formerly the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, resigned in October to take a higher paying job at a private firm.

In the three weeks since Gonzales' Senate testimony, the department disclosed that it is investigating whether his former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, weighed the political affiliations of those she considered hiring as entry-level prosecutors. Consideration of such affiliations could be a violation of federal law.

More of the fired U.S. attorneys also have told congressional investigators they were warned that if they publicly protested their dismissals, Justice Department officials would publicly criticize their performance. And there have been new allegations that U.S. attorneys were evaluated on their enthusiasm for pursuing voter fraud cases that might benefit Republican candidates.

Conyers is holding a subpoena for Rove but has not issued it. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee last week subpoenaed Gonzales for all e-mails the Justice Department has gathered regarding Rove and the firings.

In prepared testimony for Thursday's hearing, Gonzales said it's time to move on.

"Recent events must not deter us from our mission. I ask the committee to join me in that commitment and that rededication," he said, citing what he said were accomplishments in protecting national security and fighting pedophiles.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)