Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is accusing ex-CIA Director Michael Hayden of committing a crime and claims to have filed formal report with Capitol Police.
First blood was drawn on Monday after what appeared to an innocuous survey on Twitter/X.
The post placed above a photo of the senator asks: "Should Tommy Tuberville be removed from his committee? Yes or No?"
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
This prompted a barrage of responses (the post has been viewed over 1 million times).
But one of the responses came from Hayden's handle.
It reads: "How about the human race?"
The following day, Tuberville and his staff appeared to respond, having interpreted the single sentenced post as a bonafide threat, claiming in a release that it "called for violence" against the senator and then announced that a report had been filed with Capitol Police.
"My office has reported this incident to the Capitol Police and I expect that they will once again do an excellent job protecting members of Congress and bringing criminals to justice," according to the release posted on Tuberville's official site.
Raw Story's attempts to reach Capitol Police after hours were not immediately returned and a message was placed with the senator voicemail system.
The senator noted that the missive amounted to a call for "politically motivated violence."
These statements are disgusting and they are repugnant to everything we believe in as Americans," Tuberville's release continued.
"Given General Hayden’s long career in Washington, he must have known he was committing a serious crime," the post continues. "If we still have a nonpolitical justice system in this country, then General Hayden will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
For his part, Hayden didn't stay quiet or take down the post.
"I was surprised to wake up this morning and discover that many MAGAnuts had lost their minds over my suggestion that 'Coach' Tuberville not be considered a member of the human race," he posted earlier on Tuesday.
