US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday he will not resign from his position in response to growing controversy over the firings last year of eight US Attorneys that may have been politically motivated. Gonzales nonetheless accepted responsibility and admitted "mistakes were made" when the US Department of Justice (DOJ) publicly dismissed the US Attorneys and subsequently misled Congress about the firings. According to e-mails revealed Tuesday, Gonzales' Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson and former White House counsel Harriet Miers suggested firing all 93 US Attorneys at the beginning of President Bush's second term. Sampson resigned from his position Monday.

In response to Gonzales' comments, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), among others, renewed his calls for Gonzales to resign in a statement on the Senate floor. Several high-ranking Democratic senators also called for Gonzales' resignation Monday in the wake of revelations in an official audit that the FBI broke and misused laws in obtaining personal information from telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, and credit bureaus under the Patriot Act.