Washington • Sen. Ted Cruz says an aide was responsible for the “like” that caused a pornographic post to briefly appear on Cruz’s Twitter feed overnight.

The Texas Republican and 2016 presidential candidate said Tuesday that several aides have access to the account and that one inadvertently posted the pornography.

Cruz told reporters that “it was a staffing issue and it was inadvertent. It was a mistake. It was not a deliberate action.”

“Liking” — which only people with access to a Twitter account are able to do — causes it to appear on one’s feed.

Cruz sought to make light of the episode, which gained widespread notice on the popular social media site.

“This is not how I envisioned waking up this morning,” Cruz said. “Although I will say that if I had known that this would trend so quickly, perhaps we should have posted something like this back during the Indiana primary.”

Cruz would not say whether he’ll fire the staff aide or deny the aide access to his social media accounts, though he noted that the aide did not act maliciously.