President Trump’s Transportation secretary lost control of her Twitter account on Wednesday, resulting in a tweet encouraging a House Democrat to “sue” Trump.



“SUE HIS VERY SOUL MAXINE,” Elaine Chao’s verified account tweeted, before deleting shortly after.



The message was in response to Rep. Maxine Waters's (D-Calif.) tweet reading, “Get ready for impeachment.”

Trump's Transpo secretary was apparently hacked (or someone thought they were logged into personal account?) This was tweeted & deleted. pic.twitter.com/Qg3cBtN8wk — Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) March 22, 2017

The Department of Transportation (DOT) said in a statement that "an employee with access to the account" was responsible for the tweet, and the department would be "taking appropriate action" in response.

"The employee took action outside of his scope of work and duties and without any approvals," a DOT spokesperson said. "We regret that this transpired and have taken steps to prevent any future occurrence."

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Chao, who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellMcConnell focuses on confirming judicial nominees with COVID-19 talks stalled McConnell accuses Democrats of sowing division by 'downplaying progress' on election security Warren, Schumer introduce plan for next president to cancel ,000 in student debt MORE (R-Ky.), ran the Labor Department under former President George W. Bush.

Some agencies came under fire for their social media practices shortly after Trump took office. The Interior Department was reportedly asked to stop tweeting after the National Park Service account retweeted pictures comparing the crowd sizes at former President Obama's 2009 inauguration to Trump's inauguration.

—Updated at 5:29 p.m.