Alberto Gonzales, America's embattled attorney-general, yesterday resisted growing calls for his resignation but took a series of damaging blows from hostile lawmakers in a much-awaited Capitol Hill hearing.

Mr Gonzales, who, along with Karl Rove, George W. Bush's chief strategist, is one of the few remaining Texan loyalists in the administration, admitted making mistakes in the process that led to the allegedly politically-motivated dismissal of eight US attorneys last year. But he insisted that the firings were not based on "improper" motives.