Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) accused the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF), the outside group aiming to unseat McConnell and a number of other incumbent Republicans, of giving “conservatism a bad name.”

“The Senate Conservatives Fund is giving conservatism a bad name. They’re participating in ruining the [Republican] brand,” McConnell said in an interview with The Washington Examiner. “What they do is mislead their donors into believing the reason that we can’t get as good an outcome as we’d like to get is not because of a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president, but because Republicans are insufficiently committed to the cause — which is utter nonsense.”

McConnell’s comments are one of the latest examples of the escalating public feud between SCF and establishment Republicans. The Senate Conservatives Fund has endorsed McConnell primary challenger Matt Bevin and has aggressively criticized the top Senate Republican as a fake conservative.

In response, McConnell and his allies have ramped up public criticism of the group. A spokeswoman for McConnell recently called an ad by SCF “profoundly stupid.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee has also cut ties with Jamestown Associates, a consulting firm that does business with SCF.

Less than a week ago, news broke that McConnell “lit into” Nebraska Republican Senate candidate Ben Sasse for associating himself with SCF.