Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., said Tuesday he believes the FBI needs to be "purged" and suggested there are some agents working with the bureau who are part of the “deep state" against President Trump.

“I would like to see the directors of those agencies purge it and say, ‘Look, we’ve got a lot of great agents, a lot of great lawyers here,’” Rooney told MSNBC. “Those are the people that I want the American people to see and know the good works being done, not these people who are kind of the deep state.”

WATCH: GOP Rep. Francis Rooney calls for 'purge' of FBI, accuses some in the agency of being a part of the 'deep state' pic.twitter.com/kkJTBPFeui— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 26, 2017



Rooney said he believes Peter Strzok, a longtime FBI investigator, is one of the agents who “can be purged.” Strzok exchanged text messages mocking President Trump with FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an extramarital affair.

Strzok was working on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, but special counsel Robert Mueller removed him from the probe after the messages were discovered.

Rooney said he believes the American people have “very high standards for our government agencies” and is worried instances of potential bias within the FBI “undermine my confidence that the agencies don’t respect the Constitution and will not put the ends before the means.”

Several Republicans and President Trump have raised concerns about the integrity of Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.