WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate Republican is calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal as Democrats weigh subpoenaing President Bush's top aides in the escalating political furor over the firing of eight federal prosecutors.

Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, a longtime Bush administration critic facing a tough re-election campaign, called for Gonzales' ouster Wednesday just hours after Bush expressed confidence in the attorney general, who is a longtime friend.

“I think the president should replace him,” Sununu said in an interview. “I think the attorney general should be fired.”

Although some Republicans have been tepid in their support for the attorney general, Sununu was the first to go so far in the wake of an uproar over the Justice Department's firing of the attorneys and its response to congressional questions, plus a separate report that the administration abused its power to secretly investigate suspected terrorists.

The White House issued a curt response to Sununu's remarks.

“We're disappointed, obviously,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said. A Justice Department spokeswoman refused to comment.

Speaking to reporters in Mexico before returning to Washington, Bush expressed confidence in Gonzales and defended the firings. “What Al did and what the Justice Department did was appropriate,” the president said.

Still, Bush left himself room to sack the attorney general.

“What was mishandled was the explanation of the cases to the Congress,” Bush said. “And Al's got work to do up there.”

Gonzales, expected to meet with lawmakers this week, has been fending off Democratic demands that he resign over the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys - dismissals Democrats have characterized as a politically motivated purge.

“We want Congress to know, to understand what happened here,” Gonzales said. “We'll work it out.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday was considering subpoenas for presidential political adviser Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and deputy White House counsel William Kelley, all of whom exchanged e-mails for two years with the Justice Department about the firings, according to documents made public this week.

The panel also was considering compelling the testimony of five of Gonzales' aides, even though the attorney general has pledged to let the officials speak with the committee.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters after the meeting with presidential counsel Fred Fielding on Wednesday that Fielding promised a yes-or-no answer by Friday.

“He said it was his goal to get us both the documents and the witnesses that we seek to question,” Schumer said. The White House was expected to seek some conditions, but Fielding “said his intention was not to stonewall,” Schumer added.

Sununu long has been a critic of what he has said was the White House's disregard for civil liberties in its war on terrorism and played a large part in forcing the administration to accept new curbs on its power during the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act last year.

He said his confidence in Gonzales had been shattered by the firings of the prosecutors and by a report Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general criticizing the administration's use of secret national security letters to obtain personal records in terrorism probes.

“We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the confidence of Congress and the American people,” Sununu said. “Alberto Gonzales can't fill that role.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., predicted Wednesday that Gonzales would soon be out.

“I think he is gone. I don't think he'll last long,” Reid said in an interview with Nevada reporters. Asked how long, Reid responded: “Days.”

Republicans came to Gonzales' defense.

“I don't believe the attorney general should resign over this,” said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. “I don't believe his ability to pursue the terrorist threat has been compromised to the extent that he should resign.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is running for his party's presidential nomination, agreed.

“(Gonzales) steadfastly maintains that he's done nothing wrong, so let him make his case,” McCain said.

Some of the dismissed prosecutors complained at hearings last week that lawmakers tried to influence political corruption investigations. Several also said there had been Justice Department attempts to intimidate them.

E-mails between the Justice Department and the White House, released Tuesday, contradicted the administration's earlier contention that Bush's aides had only limited involvement in the firings.

U.S. attorneys are the federal government's prosecutors and serve at the pleasure of the president. They can be hired or fired for any reason, or none at all.

Senior Justice Department officials said Wednesday they considered for several years ways to fill vacant prosecutors' jobs without judicial meddling. They said they never intended to bypass the Senate confirmation process when the department pushed to change the renewed Patriot Act in 2006.

Instead, they said they sought to erase what Associate Deputy Attorney General William Moschella called a “constitutional anomaly” that let federal judges appoint interim U.S. attorneys in jobs that were vacant for more than 120 days.

“There's a conspiracy theory about this and it's nothing other than that,” Moschella said in an interview Wednesday.

Moschella was one of several senior Justice Department officials who testified to Congress about the firings. It was disclosed later that he gave lawmakers misleading information.

Moschella declined to comment on that during the interview.

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