Rep. Trey Gowdy said there might be about five FBI employees whose actions have been suspect in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the whole bureau should not be attacked.

“I have tremendous respect for the bureau, there are 30,000 employees, let's assume that there are five that engaged in conduct that we have questions about,” Gowdy said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” Sunday.

The FBI has been under siege by President Trump and Republicans for the investigation into Russia’s actions in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

Gowdy said the partisan tone of the investigation has become a major problem. He said he hopes the release of a four-page memo detailing how the FBI used a controversial dossier compiled on Trump by a political opposition research firm as evidence for a warrant to spy on a Trump campaign adviser is a “one-off.”

“I hope this is a one-off, that Congress takes this position but also hope it's a one-off that a [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] application contains errors and product that is funded by a political opponent. I hope that is a one-off,” he said.

He said criticism of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who has been sent to an early retirement by the furor around his role in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and the Russia investigation, is a prime example of the partisanship problem.

“People can quibble about Andy McCabe, I spent 15 hours with him in two different interviews, he is a professional witness even though I disagree with some of the decision he made,” Gowdy said. “I think we’ve got to get to some point in life where you can disagree with the decision-making process that someone engaged in without believing that they are corrupt or somehow part of the deep state, whatever that means.”