Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) fired back at congressional colleague Steve King (R-IA) on Wednesday after King accused him — behind his back — of not renouncing “Sharia law.”

“I just hope that we can try to reach higher ground,” Ellison told MSNBC host Chris Hayes. “When you’re spewing this kind of nonsense — things that that [Donald] Trump says, that Dr. [Ben] Carson says, but also [Marco] Rubio and [Ted] Cruz and even Jeb Bush have said — these things are divisive, they’re distracting, and they’re deceptive. I think good people need to stand up and reject them.”

ADVERTISEMENT

King had accused Ellison and Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) earlier in the day of refusing to state that they were renouncing Sharia law, a set of conservative Muslim principles several conservatives have accused Muslims of trying to install in the US.

However, the Iowa Tea Party favorite did not tell Hayes earlier in the program what made him doubt Ellison’s commitment to serving as a US lawmaker.

“You’ll get to ask him,” King said instead. “I’m glad he’s going to be there to answer this question, which is: which is superior — the Constitution or Sharia law? In Sharia law, their teaching is superior to everything else, it replaces everything else.”

Watch Hayes’ interviews with Ellison and King, as aired on Wednesday, below.