Rep. Karen Bass Karen Ruth BassOutrage erupts over Breonna Taylor grand jury ruling Patients are dying unnecessarily from organ donation policy failures Hispanic caucus report takes stock of accomplishments with eye toward 2021 MORE (D-Calif.) said one of her GOP colleagues may need a "history lesson" after his call for a "purge" of the FBI.

During an interview on CNN, Bass called Rep. Francis Rooney Laurence (Francis) Francis RooneyThe Hill's Convention Report: Democrats gear up for Day Two of convention The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Gohmert tests positive; safety fears escalate on Capitol Hill Pelosi to require masks on House floor MORE's (R-Fla.) comments calling for a purge "very frightening."

"When I get back to Congress in a couple of weeks, I want to sit down and talk to him about the McCarthy era, because I'm not sure if he remembers the Cold War," she said.

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"The type of purges he's talking about harkens back to the Cold War, when there was a purge by McCarthy to find communists that were hidden in the federal government," she said.

She said this sows distrust in the country's institutions.

"I think it is irresponsible," she said. "And maybe he needs a history lesson. Maybe that's what would be helpful in this time period."

Bass said she thinks her Republican colleagues are afraid indictments are going to come so they are "laying the foundation for there to be mistrust in the process."

Rooney earlier this week called for a "purge" of the FBI, warning of "deep state" figures at work in the agency.