Alberto Gonzales, America’s embattled attorney-general, on Thursday resisted growing calls for his resignation but took a series of potentially fatal 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 federal attorneys last year. But he insisted that the firings were not based on “improper” motives.