By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

(CNN) -- New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Monday she gives "zero" f---s about the criticism she and other freshman lawmakers are getting from fellow members of their own party.

On CBS' "The Late Show" Monday night, host Stephen Colbert asked the New York congresswoman, "On a scale of zero to some, how many f----s do you give?"

"I think it's um .... zero," she replied, making a circle with her hand.

Ocasio-Cortez raised doubts during her campaign about now-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's leadership and Ocasio-Cortez joined climate change protesters in Pelosi's office shortly after she was elected.

Asked Monday for her response to people who think her actions go against party unity, Ocasio-Cortez told Colbert that it's "how we choose to interpret events and things like activism and advocacy."

"If you think activism is inherently divisive, I mean, today is Martin Luther King Day and people called Martin Luther King divisive in his time," she said. "We forget that he was wildly unpopular when he was advocating for the Civil Rights Act."

She added, "And I think that what we need to really realize is that social movements are the moral compass and should be the moral compass of our politics."

Politico reported that some House Democrats have been unhappy with Ocasio-Cortez's resistance to falling in line with her fellow party members.