Ky. House speaker says hacker tweeted anti-McConnell remarks from his account

FILE: April 9, 2013: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the Senate GOP leadership after a Republican strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (AP)

Kentucky's House speaker says someone hacked into his Twitter account to post inflammatory comments about U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Democratic Speaker Greg Stumbo took to Twitter to distance himself from the criticism directed at the five-term Republican senator from Kentucky.

Stumbo tweeted he was unaware the anti-McConnell comments had been posted Thursday night until he was notified in a phone call.

The speaker explained that his personal Twitter account had been hacked and he was changing his password.

The anti-McConnell comments were deleted. Stumbo spokesman Brian Wilkerson declined further comment Friday.

McConnell campaign spokeswoman Allison Moore responded that if Stumbo's Twitter account was hacked, "I'm certain law enforcement and House officials will want to investigate and report back their findings.

"While they're at it," she said, "they may want to investigate the hacker who takes over Greg Stumbo's mouth when he says these same destructive comments speaking on behalf of Alison Lundergan Grimes."

Stumbo is a frequent McConnell critic. He also is an outspoken supporter of Grimes, a Democrat who is vying to unseat McConnell in one of the nation's most hotly contested campaigns this year.