The testimony Tuesday of the former No. 2 man in the Justice Department sounded like a plot from the TV national-security action series "24" as top White House officials tried to get an incapacitated U.S. attorney general to sign off on a domestic wiretapping program of dubious legality.

The pressure came from then White House Counsel and now U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose credibility woes are mounting, and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

James Comey, former deputy to then U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that on March 10, 2004, Gonzales and Card tried to persuade Ashcroft to reauthorize a National Security Agency surveillance program while he was hospitalized.

The NSA program, which became public when revealed by the New York Times in December 2005, monitored domestic e-mails and phone calls between a domestic party and one overseas purportedly involving a terrorist organization. However, it did so without the required warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, which could have been obtained retroactively.

The Justice Department review of the program raised "concerns as to our ability to certify its legality," Comey said.

Ashcroft, who had his gallbladder removed after a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis, was in George Washington University Hospital. Comey, who was in charge, refused to sign the presidential order.

Subsequently, Comey learned Gonzales and Card were going to the hospital to get Ashcroft to sign it, so he headed there, calling FBI Director Robert Mueller, who ordered FBI agents on Ashcroft's security detail not to allow Gonzales or Card to evict Comey.

After Comey briefed him, Ashcroft told Gonzales and Card he wouldn't approve the program.

"He lifted his head off the pillow and in very strong terms expressed his view of the matter, rich in both substance and fact, which stunned me," Comey testified.

Card later demanded Comey's presence at the White House.

Comey, Mueller and Ashcroft chief of staff David Ayres were prepared to resign. Comey had a 15-minute "full exchange" with President George W. Bush, then Mueller met with the president, emerging to tell Comey, "The president said the Justice Department should do what the department thinks is right."

The details of the department's concerns were not disclosed. However, a federal court later ruled the program unconstitutional. Gonzales struck a deal in January with the FISA court to monitor the program.

Ashcroft and Comey resigned months later, and Gonzales became attorney general.

Since then, Gonzales has been involved in more intrigue. The controversy over the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys led to the resignations of Paul McNulty (Comey's successor), chief of staff D. Kyle Sampson, White House liaison Monica Goodling and Michael Battle, who fired the prosecutors.

It was McNulty who told the House Judiciary Committee in February that one U.S. attorney was ousted in order to hire an associate of White House adviser Karl Rove - after Gonzales had denied any political motivations. The other dismissals, McNulty said, were "performance-related," but the records of seven indicated otherwise.

Last week Gonzales made McNulty the scapegoat. "You have to remember, at the end of the day, the recommendations reflected the views of the deputy attorney general," he said. "He signed off on the names. And he would know better than anyone else."

Yet Gonzales' fingerprints are everywhere. Sampson testified, "I remember discussing with (Gonzales) this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign."

The Washington Post reported five of 12 federal prosecutors fired or considered for dismissal were cited by Rove for nonperformance on voter fraud in Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington and Wisconsin, which had close political races. Prosecuting voter fraud was an administration priority but, according to Project Vote, between October 2002 and September 2005 only 38 cases were pursued with 11 guilty pleas and 13 convictions.

The jury is still out on the legality of the Justice Department actions, but morale has plummeted and Gonzales' heavyhandedness and lack of credibility is increasingly evident. With good cause, more Republicans are losing faith in the nation's top law enforcement official, calling for him to resign. Gonzales should heed their concerns.