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WASHINGTON - The White House offered Tuesday to make key officials, including Karl Rove, available for private interviews and provide a series of new documents on the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Democrats immediately rejected the proposal.

"I don't accept his offer," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "Testimony should be on the record and under oath. That's the formula for true accountability."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said his committee would proceed with votes on whether to approve subpoenas for the information and the Senate has a vote on additional subpoenas set for Thursday.

President Bush said he would fight any attempt to subpoena White House aides, creating the potential for a major constitutional standoff.

"If the Democrats truly do want to move forward and find the right information, they ought to accept what I proposed," Bush said. "If scoring political points is the desire, then the rejection of this reasonable proposal will really be evident for the American people to see."

The president also reiterated his continued support for besieged Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose resignation has been called for by members from both parties.

"He's got support with me. I support the attorney general," he said in a nationally televised news conference.

White House Spokesman Tony Snow also denounced reports that Bush is seeking a replacement for Gonzales as "just flat false."

White House Counsel Fred Fielding delivered the administration's offer to members of Congress during a brief meeting in Conyers' committee offices Tuesday. He said Deputy Chief of Staff Rove, former counsel Harriet Miers, and their two assistants could be interviewed, but not under oath, and there would be no transcript.

He also offered to produce correspondence between the White House and Justice Department, Congress and other third parties.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee investigating the firings, said the White House offer struck a fair balance between informing Congress and protecting the president's ability to receive candid and confidential advice from staff.

"We get what we want, but we don't get it in a forum that is public," Cannon said. "If the Democrats are interested in the truth, they will accept this offer and allow the Congress to get to the bottom of this issue as quickly as possible."

If Democrats were to accept the offer, Cannon said, the documents could be delivered and interviews take place as early as next week. While the officials would not be under oath, Cannon said they could still face criminal charges if they lied to Congress.

The alternative, he said, would be to issue subpoenas, which would likely lead to a lengthy court fight.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has already authorized subpoenas - at Leahy's discretion - for several Justice Department officials, including Kyle Sampson, a Utah native and Gonzales' former chief of staff who orchestrated the firing of the U.S. attorneys.

Sampson resigned last week as the storm over the firings began building. Gonzales said Sampson failed to share all of the information with department officials testifying before Congress. Sampson's attorney said in a statement last week that the discussion about replacing some attorneys was "well known to a number of other senior officials at the [Justice] Department."

The department turned over 3,000 pages of memos and e-mails to Congress Monday night, including documents spelling out performance issues that were the basis for the termination of the prosecutors and hundreds of pages detailing the department's reaction to subsequent inquiries from members of Congress.

The Senate voted 94-2 on Tuesday to strip the attorney general of the authority to appoint interim U.S. attorneys to indefinite terms without Senate approval. Both Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Bob Bennett voted for the measure. Similar legislation is pending in the House.

The language was added during the renewal of the Patriot Act at the Justice Department's request by Brett Tolman, then a senior staffer on the Judiciary Committee, now the U.S. attorney for Utah.