Ben & Jerry's ice cream is feuding with a top GOP operative on Twitter

It's a rocky road to get to the White House. 

A top spokesman for the national Republican Party attacked a 2016 candidate for offering supporters free ice cream on Tuesday.

The Ben & Jerry's ice cream brand eventually got involved in the spat on Twitter. 

When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) officially kicked off his Democratic campaign for president on Tuesday, treats from the Vermont-based ice cream company Ben & Jerry's were on hand. And, according to reporters present, the company distributed free ice cream and attendees formed a long line to get it:

But Sean Spicer, the communications director for the Republican National Committee, argued on Twitter that Ben & Jerry's should report the ice cream as an "in-kind" contribution to the Sanders campaign:

Ben & Jerry's, which was purchased by the conglomerate Unilever in 2001, responded to the broadside. Through an official account, the brand tweeted that the ice cream was donated by its founders, not the company itself:  

But Spicer maintained that the ice cream should still be reported as a contribution to the Sanders campaign:

Reached for comment by Business Insider, Spicer said he didn't have anything to add on the topic beyond what he wrote on Twitter. 

"Just want to know if it was properly reported," he wrote in an email.

The Sanders campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment asking if, in fact, the ice cream was reported to the Federal Election Commission. Business Insider also reached out to Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen to ask him about Spicer's questions.