Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush defended Michael Mukasey's refusal to declare so-called waterboarding illegal, saying the attorney general nominee has no direct knowledge of interrogation techniques.

Bush, prodding the Senate to confirm Mukasey, told reporters at the White House that lawmakers were being ``unfair'' by asking the nominee about a program ``on which he's not been briefed.'' Mukasey ``doesn't know whether we use that technique or not,'' the president said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raised the stakes by saying Mukasey's nomination won't get a Senate floor vote if the Judiciary Committee rejects him on Nov. 6. ``I believe in the committee process,'' the Nevada Democrat said.

Mukasey, 66, a retired federal judge, was pressed during his Senate confirmation hearing on what is permissible in questioning suspected terrorists. He wrote to lawmakers Oct. 30 that he isn't sure if waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, is torture.

Bush also put pressure on lawmakers in a later speech by linking Mukasey's confirmation to the battle against terrorism.

``The job of the attorney general is essential to the security of America,'' Bush said at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy research organization in Washington. ``The attorney general is the highest-ranking official responsible for our law enforcement community's efforts to detect and prevent terrorist attacks here at home.''

Losing Support

Mukasey continued to lose support among Democrats on the Judiciary panel. He needs the vote of only one Democrat to win committee approval.

Democrat Edward Kennedy, a member of the committee, said today he will vote against Mukasey's confirmation. ``Waterboarding is torture, period. Judge Mukasey refuses to say so,'' he said.

Three other Democrats on the committee, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Joseph Biden of Delaware, have said they will vote against confirmation. The remaining six Democrats on the panel haven't said how they will vote. Democrats hold a 10-9 edge on the committee.

Before his speech, Bush took the unusual step of inviting six reporters into the Oval Office for about 15 minutes of discussion about the address and to make his case for Mukasey.

President `Disappointed'

Mukasey is a ``highly competent, smart'' nominee who should be confirmed, Bush said, adding he was ``extremely disappointed'' in his treatment by the Senate panel.

``It doesn't make sense'' to let Mukasey know about interrogation techniques until he is confirmed, the president said.

Bush declined to talk about any U.S. interrogation techniques. Whatever methods the U.S. uses ``are within the law,'' he said.

His defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, said military personnel aren't permitted to use waterboarding on detainees. Still, he declined to say whether it constitutes torture. ``I'm not going to wander into that legal thicket,'' he said at a news conference at the Pentagon.

Bush is seeking to replace former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was forced from office in September following a congressional inquiry into allegations he politicized the Justice Department.

Wait for Vote

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky complained in a floor speech that ``Democrats have been clamoring for new leadership all year'' at the Justice Department, yet the nation has now ``waited longer for a vote on Michael Mukasey than any other attorney general nominee in decades.''

Reid told reporters the need for a new attorney general shouldn't be a reason for senators to ignore the ``controversial issues'' raised by Mukasey's nomination.

The majority leader also criticized Mukasey's four-page letter to 10 Judiciary Committee members in which he refused to say whether waterboarding was illegal.

``If there were any indication why people dislike lawyers, read the letter he wrote,'' said Reid, himself a lawyer. ``It was so lawyerlike no one knew what he was saying.''

Reid said it was ``unfortunate'' that the U.S. is trying to convince the world that ``we don't waterboard'' prisoners. ``But that is the position the Mukasey nomination has put us in,'' he told reporters.

New York Democrat Charles Schumer, a Judiciary Committee member who suggested that Bush nominate Mukasey, said today he is still undecided on whether to vote for confirmation.

``I am weighing that very carefully,'' Schumer told reporters. ``Obviously there are strong considerations on both sides.''

Schumer, who seldom declines a chance to talk with reporters, showed a flash of anger when pressed about the cause of his uncertainty about Mukasey. ``When I make a decision, I will let you know,'' he said. ``I am not going to have a public discussion about it.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net; James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 1, 2007 16:48 EDT