Washington DC - Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio got into an exchange with the government of Germany after the two criticized the country for labeling the Alternative for Germany (AfD) part as "extremist."

On Friday, Rubio shared an X post claiming the German government of giving "its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition," which he described as "tyranny in disguise."

"What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD... but rather the establishment's deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes," Rubio wrote.

"Germany should reverse course."

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Vance also shared a post describing the AfD, which lost the election back in February, as "the most popular party in Germany," and accused bureaucrats of trying to "destroy" it.

"The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt - not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment," Vance added.

Their comments come after the country's Office for the Protection of the Constitution announced earlier that day that they have classified the AfD as "a confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor due to the extremist nature of the entire party."

According to Politico, the label allows authorities to "intensify surveillance of the party and its members, including the use of undercover informants and monitoring communications, under judicial oversight."

The politicians' remarks sparked a heated debate on social media and managed to get the attention of the German government.

The German Foreign Office decided to weigh in on the debate in a response to Rubio's post, arguing the decision was "the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law."

"We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped," the response added.

Roderich Kiesewetter, a prominent lawmaker of the leading conservative party, also responded, telling Rubio, "You should reverse your course by hollowing out AND exploiting the rules-based international order for the disadvantage of Ukraine and NATO."