Sen. Collins supports reinstatement of Trump's Twitter account

Apr. 26—Maine's Sen. Susan Collins on Tuesday expressed support for Elon Musk to reinstate former President Trump's Twitter account.

Collins, a Republican, made the remarks to the Huffington Post, a news organization that reports on national politics.

Her comments come one day after Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who describes himself as a "free-speech absolutist," reached an agreement to purchase the social media platform for $44 billion.

"Although I obviously don't agree with a lot of President Trump's tweets, I do think he should have his account back. To me, it's ironic that we allow Russian government sites to be on Twitter but we don't allow President Trump," Collins told the Huffington Post.

The Huffington Post story included interviews with other Republican legislators. Some said they would defer to Musk on allowing Trump to return, while others, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, agreed with Collins.

Trump was banned from using Twitter after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. He was also banned from Facebook. Trump regularly used social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to attack Democrats, other Republicans and people of color.

Trump has said he has no plans to return to Twitter, relying instead on his new social media platform, Truth Social, which launched in February.

Musk has yet to say whether he would reinstate Trump's account if the purchase is successful. Musk has publicly stated that Twitter will become a "digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."