May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Alberto Gonzales pressured then- Attorney General John Ashcroft while he was hospitalized in 2004 to recertify a classified program whose legality was questioned by the Justice Department, the agency's former No. 2 official told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified that he and other Justice Department officials planned to resign after the visit to Ashcroft's hospital bed by Gonzales, then White House counsel, and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Comey was acting attorney general because of Ashcroft's illness. He wouldn't specify the program at issue, though panel members said it apparently was secret wiretapping of suspected terrorists.

``I was concerned that this was an effort to do an end-run around the acting attorney general and to get a very sick man to approve something'' that the Justice Department had concluded ``was unable to be certified as to its legality,'' Comey told the Senate panel in Washington. Comey said Vice President Dick Cheney also had told him he disagreed with the department's stance.

Comey was called before the committee today to testify about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys that have led to calls for Gonzales's resignation by Democrats and some Republicans. President George W. Bush has continued to support his attorney general.

The hearing opened with questioning by Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, about the 2004 incident, when Ashcroft was being treated for gallstone pancreatitis.

Saturday Night Massacre

``The story is a shocking one. It makes you almost gulp,'' Schumer said. The incident shows that Gonzales holds the rule of law ``in minimum low regard,'' the senator said, adding, ``It's hard to understand after hearing this story how Attorney General Gonzales could remain as attorney general.''

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the committee's ranking Republican, said the confrontation ``has some characteristics of the Saturday Night Massacre'' during the Nixon administration when top Justice Department officials resigned rather than fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Specter also said yesterday's announcement that Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty will resign provided ``evidence that the department really cannot function with the continued leadership or lack of leadership of Attorney General Gonzales.''

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the president has ``full confidence in Alberto Gonzales,'' and he refused to discuss what he termed ``old conversations.''

``You've got somebody who's got splashy testimony on Capitol Hill, good for him,'' Snow said.

`Political Arm'

``We do not discuss private discussions between the director and others,'' said John Miller, the FBI's assistant director of public affairs.

Ashcroft, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on Comey's testimony. The Justice Department didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said Gonzales is doing an ``abysmal job'' and the Justice Department is ``being run like a political arm of the White House.''

The hospital incident was reported by Newsweek magazine in February 2006, which said Gonzales was seeking authorization to continue Bush's domestic spying program. Today's testimony was Comey's first public description of it.

Comey said he believed that Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller also considered resigning, and that Ashcroft's chief of staff had said he believed the attorney general might resign as well.

Domestic Spy Program

Specter said during the hearing he believed the program involved was terrorist surveillance. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said the surveillance program ``initially was done outside of the law,'' the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which she said provided ``exclusive authority for all electronic surveillance.''

The domestic spying program was set up shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks and allowed eavesdropping of some suspected terrorists without a court warrant. The Justice Department defended the program's legality for more than a year after it was publicly revealed in December 2005. Earlier this year, the Bush administration said it would allow the program to be overseen by a secret federal court.

Comey said that on March 10, 2004, he got a call from Ashcroft's staff reporting that Gonzales and Card were on their way to see the attorney general at the hospital. Comey said he ``rushed'' to the hospital and called Mueller to go there too.

Seeking Approval

Gonzales and Card entered Ashcroft's hospital room, ``And then Mr. Gonzales began to discuss why they were there -- to seek his approval for a matter, and explained what the matter was,'' Comey said.

Ashcroft ``in very strong terms expressed himself'' on the program, Comey said, and added, ``But that doesn't matter, because I'm not the attorney general,'' alluding to Comey acting in his place.

Gonzales and Card left without acknowledging Comey, the former deputy attorney general said.

The program was reauthorized without the Justice Department's approval the following day, and Comey said he drafted a resignation letter.

``I believed I couldn't stay if the administration was going to engage in conduct that the Department of Justice said had no legal basis,'' Comey said. ``I just simply couldn't stay.''

Comey said Ashcroft's chief of staff, David Ayres, planned to resign and said Ashcroft might quit as well.

``Mr. Ashcroft's chief of staff asked me something that meant a great deal to him, and that is that I not resign until Mr. Ashcroft was well enough to resign with me,'' Comey said.

Comey said he decided to remain on the job after he and Mueller each met separately with Bush two days after the hospital confrontation. He said the president provided ``direction to do what the Justice Department believed was necessary'' to put the program ``on a footing to ensure its legality.''

Comey remained deputy attorney general until August 2005. Now he is general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corp. Gonzales became attorney general in February 2005.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurie Asseo in Washington at Lasseo1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 15, 2007 14:42 EDT