Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger Adam Daniel KinzingerFox News reporter defends confirming Atlantic piece despite Trump backlash: 'I feel very confident' GOP lawmaker defends Fox reporter after Trump calls for her firing Lindsey Graham: 'QAnon is bats--- crazy' MORE (Ill.) criticized President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE's recent tweet calling "Never Trump" Republicans "human scum."

"To call anybody human scum is beneath the office of the presidency. You can't say that, right? You're the president. You have different standards," Kinzinger said in a CNN interview.

"Sometimes you'll hear people say, 'Well this congressman said this once,'" he added. "Yeah, nobody should say anything like this. But I think there's a different level when you're the president of the United States. You have a different responsibility, and that's why I'm outspoken about it."

ADVERTISEMENT

The lawmaker called on his colleagues to "talk to each other as grownups."

"We need to just have conversations, and I'm going to say this to my colleagues on my side and the other side of the aisle," Kinzinger said. "By calling names and screaming and yelling and demonstrating, you never win anybody to your side. You just make your base happy, but you're not actually doing anything effective."

The lawmaker's comments follow a tweet in which Trump said that "Never Trumper Republicans" are "dangerous."

"The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats. Watch out for them, they are human scum!" he wrote.

He particularly called out top diplomat to Ukraine William Taylor, who this week testified before lawmakers as part of the House impeachment inquiry into Trump.