Infighting within the GOP spilled out into the public on Thursday with a Republican House member bashing a libertarian-leaning colleague as "Al Qaeda’s best friend in the Congress."

The comments from Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) were targeting Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who is facing a primary challenger and has been a vocal critic of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs.

"He's been leading the charge and not telling the truth about [NSA surveillance policies]," Nunes said in an interview with Politico. “He’s been fanning the flames, and it gets to the point where my assessment is this is a guy willing to work with San Francisco Democrats to protect bait fish, and at the same time he’s Al Qaeda’s best friend in the Congress."