WASHINGTON (AP) – Alleging heavy-handed political pressure, fired Federal prosecutors testified Tuesday they felt “leaned on” by Republican lawmakers to seek indictments and hushed by a Justice Department official who didn’t want them talking about their dismissals.

Testifying before Democratic-controlled congressional committees, six of eight recently ousted prosecutors said they were fired without explanation. Several described what they said was improper pressure by Republicans on pending cases.

New Mexico’s David Iglesias told lawmakers he felt pressed by Senator Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, last October to rush indictments against Democrats before Election Day.

Arkansas’ Bud Cummins wrote other fired prosecutors in an e-mail last month of a “message” conveyed by a Justice Department official that if they continued to talk with news reporters, the agency “would feel forced to somehow pull their gloves off” and fight back.

And John McKay, the fired Federal prosecutor in Seattle, said he stopped a top aide to Representative Doc Hastings, Republican of Washington, from asking him detailed questions about an investigation into the disputed election of Washington state’s Governor Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, in 2004.

A Justice Department official, invited to one of the two hearings, denied that any of the eight fired Federal prosecutors was improperly pressured or that they were ousted to make room for Republican political allies. Most of the firings were inspired by performance-related issues, he said.

“This administration has never removed a United States attorney to retaliate against them. Not once,” William Moschella, an associate deputy attorney general, told a House subcommittee. “The department stands by its decision to ask these U.S. attorneys to resign.”

His comments took up only a few moments in the daylong parade of fired federal prosecutors across Capitol Hill, where they recounted being kicked out of their jobs, first to the Senate Judiciary Committee and then to the House subcommittee on commercial and administrative law.

Their stories spanned states and legal issues, but they insisted together they were not fired for poor performance. The Justice Department’s claim to the contrary, several fired prosecutors said, inspired them to speak publicly.

In perhaps the day’s most dramatic testimony, one ousted prosecutor in New Mexico told the Senate panel that he felt sickened when Sen. Domenici hung up on him after being told that indictments in a corruption case against Democrats would not be handed down before the November elections.

“He said, ‘Are these going to be filed before November?'” Mr. Iglesias recalled. “I said I didn’t think so. And to which he replied, ‘I’m very sorry to hear that.’ And then the line went dead.”

Mr. Iglesias said he received the call from Domenici at home on Oct. 26 or 27 and that it lasted two minutes, “tops.”

“I felt leaned on. I felt pressured to get these matters moving,” Iglesias testified. Asked by Senator Schumer, Democrat of New York, whether such a call was unusual in Iglesias’ experience, the former prosecutor answered, “Unprecedented.”

Democrats tried to connect the anecdotes into a pattern of intimidation and obstruction by the Bush administration and two Republican lawmakers.

“For over 150 years the process of appointing interim U.S. attorneys has worked well with virtually no problems,” said Senator Feinstein, Democrat of California. “We need to assure that this kind of politicization of the U.S. attorney’s offices does not happen again.”

The Democrats’ version: The Bush administration fired eight federal prosecutors in recent months without cause in an effort to make way for and reward GOP allies with the plum appointments – without Senate confirmation.

A Republican joined the criticism to some extent Tuesday, saying he wasn’t convinced the Justice Department acted properly.

“If the allegations are correct, then there has been serious misconduct in what has occurred in the terminations of these United States attorneys,” Senator Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania said.

As a former district attorney in Philadelphia, he was troubled by reports that two lawmakers – Mr. Domenici and Representative Heather Wilson, both New Mexico Republicans – had contacted Iglesias about a pending case.

Mr. Domenici and Ms. Wilson, who was in a tight race for re-election last fall, have acknowledged making the calls but have denied placing political pressure on Mr. Iglesias. Neither responded to requests for reaction to Iglesias’ testimony.

The two lawmakers may face additional questions over the matter. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, said the House ethics committee “has a responsibility” to investigate Wilson’s conduct. A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, has called for investigations of both Ms. Wilson and Mr. Domenici.

In the Arkansas firing, the Judiciary Committee released an e-mail written by ousted Federal prosecutor Mr. Cummins regarding a phone call he says he received Feb. 20 from a Justice Department official.

Mike Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, had called and expressed displeasure that the fired prosecutors had talked to reporters about their dismissals, according to the text.

“If they feel like any of us intend to continue to offer quotes to the press, or organize behind the scenes congressional pressure, then they feel forced to somehow pull their gloves off and offer public criticisms to defend their actions more fully,” Mr. Cummins said in the e-mail to five other fired prosecutors.

“I don’t want to overstate the threatening undercurrent in the call, but the message was clearly there,” he added.

Asked by Mr. Specter whether he felt he was being threatened, Mr. Cummins said, “Some people would want to interpret that as a threat, but it could also be, ‘Hey, here’s some friendly advice.'”

The Justice Department denied that any threat, implied or otherwise.

“A private and collegial conversation between Mike Elston and Bud Cummins is now somehow being twisted into a perceived threat by former disgruntled employees grandstanding before Congress,” said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.

Mr. Iglesias told the panel he received a call from Rep. Wilson last mid-October in which she asked him about sealed indictments – a topic prosecutors cannot discuss. Wilson’s question “raised red flags in my head,” Iglesias said.

“I was evasive and nonresponsive to her question,” Iglesias told the panel, saying he talked generally about why some indictments are sealed. “She was not happy with that answer. And she said, ‘Well I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.” The call ended almost immediately, Mr. Iglesias said.

Asked by Mr. Schumer if he felt pressured by that call, Mr. Iglesias replied: “Yes sir, I did.”

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Talhelm, Hope Yen and Larry Margasak contributed to this report.