U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was stepping down, one day after Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.

Bush made the announcement during a press conference at the White House.

Also at the press conference, Bush said he chose former Central Intelligence Agency Robert Gates to take over from Rumsfeld.

Just one week ago, Bush said he wanted Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to stay in office during the rest of his presidency.

Both Cheney and Rumsfeld were doing "fantastic jobs" and that he "strongly" supported them, he said at that time.

Rumsfeld had faced calls from both Democrats and Republicans to resign over his handling of the Iraq war.

Source: Xinhua