WEST DEPTFORD — A reporter for the Daily Beast news site says a candidate for West Deptford Township Committee public directed vulgar messages at her, telling her in one he hopes someone rapes her.

On Twitter, reporter Olivia Nuzzi posted a screenshot of what appear to be three Facebook comments made by candidate Mike Krawitz in response to a story she linked to (but did not write) about Donald Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples.

Caution: The messages include vulgar language. Nuzzi's Tweet is below:

"Not that anything could justify his remarks. But women get this sort of harassment everyday basically just for existing," Nuzzi said in another tweet.

Kravwitz told the Philadelphia Inquirer a hacker was responsible for the post. "Could be anybody in this township or the Democratic party. When you're running for township committee in Jersey, these people do anything to try to smear you," he told the newspaper and denied the rape comments.

Nuzzi also said on Twitter West Deptford Republican Club has been "spreading misinformation in an attempt to defend" Krawitz and linked to a Facebook post that has been deleted. The Club's entire Facebook page since appears to have been deleted.

Before the deletion, the Club wrote on its Facebook account "the executive board of the WDGOP does not condone any repulsive, threatening or demeaning rhetoric in any social media form or otherwise. We are in the process of contacting Twitter for confirmation that someone hacked his account and posted his Facebook thumbnail on the hacked Twitter entry," according to a screenshot posted by the Inquirer.

But the statements that appear to be made by Kravwitz appeared on Twitter, not Facebook, Nuzzi said in more Tweets on the matter, and the screenshots do indeed appear to reflect Facebook comments. And Nuzzi said it's not the first time Kravwitz has sent her nasty messages using the same style of writing, with the same extraneous punctuation.

Again, caution: Vulgar language is included in these messages.

In a statement to 6 ABC, Nuzzi said she has covered Donald Trump for a long time and has been subject to "colorful" hate mail. "However, I've never had a candidate for public office essentially call for my rape or assault before. I do believe in free speech, and so in my view, it's up to the Republican Party of West Deptford and the voters to decide if they want this man representing them."

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