WINCHESTER, Ky. (AP) – Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has lambasted a liberal group for criticizing the ethnicity of his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

McConnell told home-state supporters at a Republican dinner in Winchester that Progress Kentucky engaged in “the ultimate outrage” when it used Twitter to distribute a message making an issue of Chao’s Asian heritage. The tweet said McConnell’s marriage to Chao “may explain why your job moved to (hash)China!”

McConnell’s described the tweet as “a racial attack” against Chao, who was born in Taiwan.

Progress Kentucky removed the tweet after Louisville public radio station WFPL-FM aired a story. And the group issued two apologies over the past week for what they described as “inappropriate tweets sent by our organization.”