WASHINGTON — Calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation continued on Capitol Hill Wednesday — with Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire being the first Republican to call for him to be fired.

But President Bush said he has "confidence" in Gonzales. That makes former Utahn D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned as Gonzales' chief of staff Monday, the only person so far to take a fall in the growing scandal surrounding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

At a press conference in Mexico, Bush said he talked with Gonzales Wednesday "about his need to go up to Capitol Hill and make it very clear to members in both political parties why the Justice Department made the decisions it made, making very clear about the facts. And he's right, mistakes were made. And I'm, frankly, not happy about it."

Bush said there is "a lot of confusion" over what is usually a normal practice by a president to have political appointees resign so new people can take their place.

"Past administrations have removed U.S. attorneys; they're right to do so," Bush said.

Former Utah U.S. Attorney David Jordan served under President George H.W. Bush and was told to resign his position when President Clinton came into office. Clinton fired all the attorneys at the start of his administration.

"I had no expectation of being maintained," said Jordan, who is also the attorney for the Deseret Morning News. "We understood the reason we were being terminated."

But what's different here is that U.S. Justice Department officials claimed that the eight attorneys were let go for "performance reasons," yet the attorneys testified in the House and Senate Judiciary Committee last week that other reasons might be behind their termination. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., sent a letter to Gonzales March 8 asking for information on why there is a discrepancy between the Justice Department's explanation that they were fired for poor performance and the attorneys' experiences of being told it was for political reasons or other reasons, based on their testimony.

Although Jordan would not comment specifically on the situation the Justice Department faces, he said any firing of a U.S. attorney that is said to be based on merit when there is nothing to back up that fact would get "two eyebrows raised."

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote today on whether to grant the authority for Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to issue subpoenas for 11 Justice Department officials including Sampson, the six U.S. attorneys who were fired and others, as well as some White House officials.

The Justice Department released e-mails to the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday — a day after Sampson tendered his resignation. One showed he had worked with the White House on a plan to get rid of specific attorneys after he "beat back" a White House plan to fire all 93 attorneys at once.