Susan Collins says that Trump should get his Twitter back

Comes as Elon Musk buys platform with promises of increasing freedom of expression

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine told HuffPost that former president Donald Trump should be allowed to have his Twitter account back.

The remarks come as Tesla magnate Elon Musk announced that he would buy the platform. Many conservatives have expressed hope the sale would mean that the former president would return to the social media platform.

Twitter kicked the then-president off the site for his continued remarks inciting the insurrection at the Capitol last year, when many of his supporters raided the complex in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

Ms Collins, who is considered a moderate, voted to convict Trump for his role in the January 6 riot on the Capitol last year.

“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,” she told the news site.

But Senator John Cornyn of Texas said he thought that Mr Trump would likely stay on his own platform Truth Social, despite its flatlining numbers.

“He wants to be with the ‘Truth,’ whatever that is,” he said.

Others like Senator Steve Daines of Montana thought the former president should be welcome back.

“If Iranian leaders can be on and the Russians are gonna be, I think that President Trump should be,” he said.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, where Mr Musk’s company Tesla is based, said Mr Trump should “absolutely” return to Twitter and called the transaction “the most important development for free speech in decades.”

But Senator Josh Hawley, who led efforts to object to the 2020 election results in 2021, said he would defer to Mr Musk.

“Based on what Musk has said I would think the ex-president would get reinstated but I don’t have a view on [it],” he said.