WASHINGTON (AP) – A group of Senate Democrats called Wednesday for a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Gonzales perjured himself regarding the firings of U.S. attorneys and administration dissent over President Bush’s domestic surveillance program.

“We ask that you immediately appoint an independent special counsel from outside the Department of Justice to determine whether Attorney General Gonzales may have misled Congress or perjured himself in testimony before Congress,” four Democratic senators wrote in a letter Wednesday, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.

“It has become apparent that the Attorney General has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements” to the Judiciary Committee, they added.

“We do not make this request lightly.” wrote Senators Schumer of New York, Feinstein of California, Feingold of Wisconsin, and Whitehouse of Rhode Island in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement.

They said that Mr. Gonzales’ testimony last year that there had been no internal dissent over the president’s warrantless wiretapping program conflicted with testimony by former Deputy Attorney General Comey and with Mr. Gonzales’ own statements this week before the Judiciary Committee.

They also said Mr. Gonzales falsely told the panel that he had not talked about the firings with other Justice Department officials. His former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, told the House Judiciary Committee under a grant of immunity that she had an “uncomfortable” conversation with Mr. Gonzales in which he outlined his recollection of what happened and asked her for her reaction.

“The attorney general should be held to the highest ethical standards,” the senators wrote.

Mr. Clement would decide whether to appoint a special prosecutor because Mr. Gonzales and outgoing Deputy Attorney General McNulty have recused themselves from the investigation that involves them. The Justice Department’s No. 3, Associate Attorney General Mercer, is serving only in an acting capacity and therefore does not have the authority to do so.

Earlier Thursday, the Bush White House defended Mr. Gonzales against the accusations of misleading testimony. And Senator Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, told reporters there was no sign that Bush’s support for the attorney general was weakening.

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Associated Press reporter Lara Jakes Jordan contributed to this story.