Updated on Sept. 26, 2018 at 11:43 a.m. with response from the Office of the Attorney General, on Sept. 19, 2018 at 7:30 a.m. with information about Mr. Rylander's Twitter account, and on Sept. 18, 2018 at 9:10 a.m. with comment from Attorney General Ken Paxton's opponent.

AUSTIN — The communications director for the Texas attorney general's office appears to have deleted his Twitter account just days after sharing a series of tweets mocking the sexual misconduct accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Marc Rylander, a former pastor, shared the tweets Monday during work hours using a handle that identified him as the top communications professional at the agency. Before it was deleted, his Twitter biography read, "Opinions are accurate and my own." The original tweets, one of which was taken down hours after being posted, were written by New York-based radio personality Mark Simone.

"Breaking: Democrats have a witness who says Kavanaugh cheated at Pin the Tail On the Donkey in Kindergarten class," Simone wrote at 11:39 a.m.

Rylander shared this without comment as well as another now-deleted tweet that said, "Judge Kavanuagh now being accused of kicking his mother several times..........................while in the womb."

Rylander's account disappeared sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning and it's unclear if he's using another handle. On Sept. 26, a week after the account disappeared, press officer Kayleigh Lovvorn said the agency had "no comment" on whether Rylander, its top communications professional, had violated the office's code of conduct by sharing the tweets.

The allegations against Kavanaugh date to his time at prep school. Christine Blasey Ford, now a university professor in California, told The Washington Post that a teenage Kavanaugh and another boy forced themselves on her when she was 15.

Kavanaugh has "categorically and unequivocally" denied the allegations but said he would answer questions about them.

The reaction among Texas Republicans was largely cautious, with Sen. John Cornyn saying the issue should be "treated with the seriousness it deserves." Other top Texas GOP officials have not weighed in.

The Office of the Attorney General's code of conduct discourages employees from posting anything to personal social media accounts that could hurt the office's reputation or operation.

"Employees should refrain from posting information on the Internet that: (1) could reasonably be expected to generate controversy and/or disruption at the OAG; (2) impedes the OAG's general performance and operation; (3) affects working relationships necessary to the OAG's proper functioning," the employee handbook reads.

The Texas attorney general's Crime Victim Services Division administers a sexual assault prevention and crisis services program that certifies nurses to perform rape exams as well as the state's crime victims' compensation program.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has made battling crimes like human trafficking one of his top priorities, and helped shutter the website Backpage.com, which was mainly used to advertise escorts and illicit massages and whose leaders pleaded guilty to human trafficking in Texas.

Last year, a top employee at the attorney general's office was forced to resign after he wrote a Facebook post that said he was "tired of all the pathetic 'me too' victim claims."

"If every woman is a 'victim', so is every man," then-associate deputy attorney general Andrew D. Leonie wrote. "If everyone is a victim, no one is. Victim means nothing anymore."

At the time, Rylander said the views that Leonie "expressed on social media do not reflect our values. The OAG is committed to promoting and maintaining a workplace that is free from discrimination and harassment."

A conservative who regularly tweets about politics and policy, Rylander has been highly critical of the news media. In January, while speaking at an open-government conference, Rylander joked about delaying the release of public information to certain news outlets or reporters.

"It's gotten so bad in newspapers especially that I almost got to the point that I avoid the newspaper people at all costs because newspapers have fired or had to let go all of their good journalists. ... They peddle their rags on Groupon. ... I mean, it's a joke."

Paxton faces Democrat Justin Nelson in the November general election. On Tuesday, Nelson's spokesperson Margaret Justus said the following about Rylander's retweets: "Sexual assault is a crime of violence and abuse of power — never a laughing matter. Another disgrace surrounding indicted Ken Paxton. "

Paxton was indicted in summer of 2015 on three felony counts of fraud and violating state securities laws. The maximum penalty for such charges is 99 years in prison. Paxton denies all the allegations against him and is unlikely to face trial before Election Day in November.