WASHINGTON — Justice Department and FBI officials on Tuesday vigorously defended a weekend raid on the Capitol Hill office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., arguing that the unprecedented tactic was necessary because Jefferson and his attorneys had refused to comply with a subpoena for documents issued more than nine months ago in a bribery investigation.

At the same time, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other administration officials sought to quell a growing uproar among Republican and Democratic lawmakers, many of whom view the Saturday night search in the Rayburn House Office Building as a clear violation of constitutional language and case law protecting lawmakers from intimidation by the executive branch.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., complained directly to President Bush on Tuesday about the FBI raid, while Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, predicted a constitutional showdown before the Supreme Court.

"My opinion is that they took the wrong path," Hastert told reporters after his meeting with Bush in the White House. "They need to back up, and we need to go from there."

According to one Justice Department official, the White House is sympathetic to Hastert's complaint and is pressing Justice officials to figure out a way to placate Congress.

Jefferson, an eight-term House member, has not been charged and he has denied any wrongdoing, but two of his associates have pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in federal court in Alexandria, Va.

About 15 FBI agents entered Jefferson's office about 7:15 p.m. Saturday and left about 1 p.m. Sunday. Authorities said it was the first time the FBI had raided the office of a sitting congressman. Agents confiscated one box full of documents and made copies of computer hard drives, according to a Justice Department source.

The FBI is investigating allegations that Jefferson took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for using his congressional influence to promote high-tech business ventures in Africa.

Gonzales and other officials said the search was conducted carefully to avoid trampling on the constitutional privileges afforded to members of Congress, including the use of a "filter team" of FBI agents and prosecutors unconnected to the case who vetted documents to be sure nothing unrelated to the investigation or out of bounds was taken.

"We believe, of course, that we've been very careful, very thorough in our pursuit of criminal wrongdoing, and that's what's going on here," Gonzales said.

FBI agents in August searched Jefferson's New Orleans home and his Washington apartment, where they found $90,000 in alleged bribe money stuffed inside a freezer, according to an affidavit filed in connection with Saturday's search.

Jefferson's press secretary, Melanie Roussell, to declined comment. His attorney, Robert Trout, did not return messages.

The attorney general's comments followed a series of complaints from GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Hastert, who said in a statement issued Monday that the search raised "important Constitutional issues that go well beyond the specifics of this case." Boehner on Tuesday referred to the search as the "Justice Department's invasion of the legislative branch."

"I have got to believe at the end of the day it is going to end up across the street at the Supreme Court," Boehner said. "I don't see anything short of that."

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