Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) announced Friday that he had officially petitioned the Justice Department to open a criminal probe in the anti-war activist group Code Pink, and on Friday, was met with scorn from the organization’s co-founder and critics.

Cotton sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi Friday officially asking that the DOJ investigate Code Pink for providing “material support to foreign terrorist organizations,” citing the group’s work with the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which itself is alleged to have ties to the leftist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the United States has designated as a terrorist organization.

Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, fired back at Cotton over his request to have the DOJ investigate her organization.

“Omg. You are such a nut case,” Benjamin wrote in a social media post on X Friday. “Did your AIPAC babysitter write the letter for you?”

Benjamin was making reference to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful political action committee that lobbies on behalf of a strong U.S.-Israeli relationship, and continued U.S. funding for Israel. She was also making reference to a past comment from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) who claimed that every Republican lawmaker had an “AIPAC babysitter” that wields enormous influence over them.

Cotton, who’s received more than $1.3 million from the pro-Israel lobby, has been a staunchly pro-Israel lawmaker, having supported legislation to criminalize boycotting Israel, condemned pro-Palestinian protests as “little Gazas,” and encouraged Israel to escalate its military siege on Gaza, saying “as far as I’m concerned, Israel can bounce the rubble in Gaza.”

In his letter, Cotton also argued that Code Pink may be in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which mandates that individuals or groups publicly disclose that they work on behalf of foreign entities, citing the group’s funding from an American activist that allegedly has ties to China.

AIPAC has has drawn its own scrutiny related to FARA, with Massie having called for the lobbying group to register under the law as a foreign agent, which would force the organization to adhere to far stricter legal and compliance burdens, including required disclosures on communications with lawmakers and officials.

Benjamin’s response to Cotton’s announcement was not the only attack he received over the announcement.

“God you guys are so pathetic,” wrote Jenin Younes, the national legal director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, in a social media post on X Saturday. “Code pink is an antiwar organization, and its founder, Medea Benjamin, is Jewish. We should investigate you for treason for terrorizing Americans at the behest of a foreign country.”

Another X user, “Terig,” who describes themselves as a “human rights activist,” blasted Cotton for what they argued was an attempt to infringe on Code Pink’s First Amendment right.

“Maybe the Senate should reread the First Amendment,” they wrote. “Speaking for peace isn’t treason, it’s a constitutional right. Not everyone who criticizes war is ‘Chinese’ or antisemitic. Dissent is democracy, not disloyalty.”