Ted Cruz appeared to “like” a porn video on social media.
The Texas Senator’s Twitter profile briefly showed the footage from @SexualPosts, which appeared on his “liked” list.
The post, which was quickly removed just before 1.30am on Tuesday, showed two women and a man engaging in sexual activity.
After the apparent blunder, his communications adviser Catherine Frazier said the “offensive” tweet had been reported to Twitter.
She tweeted: “The offensive tweet posted on @tedcruz account earlier has been removed by staff and reported to Twitter.”
But screengrabs of the “liked” tweet continued to be circulated widely online after it was taken down.
In response to his senior communication advisor’s post, one user wrote: “It's been deleted?!! Don't worry, a bunch of us saved it for you.”
And another joked: “Liked by the secret porn ghost.”
It comes after Mr Cruz faced an angry backlash when a porn actress was reportedly used in a campaign advert supporting the senator last year.
According to the Daily Mail, the ad featured actress Amy Lindsay, who appears in films such as Sex Games Vegas, Bikini Airways and Radio Erotica.
It was subsequently pulled.
