Rep. Francis Rooney, who earlier this week called for a "purge" of the FBI to clear it of "deep state" influences, on Friday said he's happy to see congressional leaders pushing hard on the agency's investigations into Russian interference and collusion in the 2016 election.
"I am really glad to see Chairman [Devin] Nunes, as well as Sen. [Chuck] Grassley turn up the heat on these investigations, because evidently the people who testified before were less than forthcoming," the Florida Republican told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.
Nunes, in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Thursday called out the FBI and Department of Justice for failing to "fully produce" documents that were related to an opposition research dossier on President Donald Trump.
"At this point, it seems the DOJ and FBI need to be investigating themselves," the California Republican, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, wrote.
Meanwhile, Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been the most aggressive person to question whether Mueller's probe is impartial, according to The Washington Post.
Trump, Nunes, and Grassley all say the FBI is biased and has not been aggressive enough in its investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
"We have got to get to the bottom of what was going on with that dossier, Rooney told Fox News Friday. Further, he said, more investigation needs to happen concerning the activities of some agents, including Peter Strzok, who was removed from Trump/Russia investigation after a series of anti-Trump text messages he and a colleague exchanged were revealed.
Mueller, continued Rooney, has had an outstanding reputation for years, but he still staffed his investigation with people who gave far more money to Democrats than they did Republicans.
Rooney also was addressed the backlash he got for using the word "purged" earlier this week when it comes to the FBI, accusing the "liberal media" of "taking everything to an extreme to try to distort" their reports.
He also was accused of trying to discredit Mueller's investigators, but said the FBI's leadership has "discredited themselves."
"They should clean this thing up and make sure that the people that work there maintain the impartiality and fairness that the American people expect," said Rooney. "The FBI and DOJ have a massive effect on the citizens' lives. For people to be conducting themselves like some of these agents did is very disturbing to me."