White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that there remain employees within the government who are continuing to promote Barack Obama's agenda, while a Republican congressman called on President Donald Trump to "purge" them from the federal workforce.

"I don’t think it should come as any surprise that there are people that burrowed into government of the last eight years of the administration and may have believed in that agenda and want to continue to seek it," Spicer said at the White House press briefing.

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During an interview on Friday on MSNBC, Iowa Rep. Steve King said Trump's got to get rid of those workers who aren't loyal to the new president.

"If I were Donald Trump, I would take a look at all of my political appointees that — and anybody that was an appointment that came from the Obama administration. I would end that tomorrow morning, or tonight for that matter," King said.

"I will use the word purge," he added. "I’ve used it over the last few days. I think that needs to happen. I think it’s a descriptive word that fits well within the English language, and I know there are people that will attach extra meaning to that. I don’t know a better word to use."

Asked Friday about a presidential mandate for a purge like the one King described, Spicer said no such mandate existed.