Republican members of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Thursday called for its chairman and general counsel to recuse themselves from an internal probe of allegedly widespread sexual misconduct among the agency's staff.

The announcement came as Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill also vowed that they would conduct their own probe of the matter, saying FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg had initially made misleading statements during congressional testimony this week before correcting himself.

The FDIC's review "must look at all conduct described in the recent news reports, in all parts of the organization, including that of the Chairman and General Counsel and they need to fully recuse from the process," FDIC Vice Chairman Travis Hill and board member Jonathan McKernan said in a statement.

(Reporting by Douglas Gillison; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)