GOP Senator Mike Lee Suspended From Twitter as Republicans Demand Answers From Elon Musk

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) announced on Wednesday that his personal Twitter account was suspended and he was provided no explanation.

“My personal Twitter account – @BasedMikeLee – has been suspended. Twitter did not alert me ahead of time, nor have they yet offered an explanation for the suspension. My team and I are seeking answers,” Lee tweeted from his congressional account. He included a screenshot of his suspended personal account.

Many conservatives took to demanding answers from Elon Musk. The Twitter owner has been friendly with a number of conservatives and has been releasing the Twitter Files, a series of documents from before he took over the company that many claim show a political bias within the company against right-leaning viewpoints.

“Hey @elonmusk – you suspended U.S. Senator @BasedMikeLee. Why?” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) tweeted.

It was a question plenty of others echoed in their messages to Musk.

One of the last tweets Lee posted was to demand the release of a U.S. Navy serviceman in Japan. Lee threatened to restrict military aid to the country if U.S. Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who was sentenced to three years for allegedly causing a deadly car crash in 2021, was not handed over to American authorities.

“If you don’t hand him over in the next seven hours, a series of conversations will begin tomorrow to inform Americans of how poorly you’re treating our military personnel—not just Ridge Alkonis, but all 55,000 U.S. forces in Japan,” Lee tweeted this week to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

After his seven hour deadline passed, Lee tweeted on Wednesday morning that he was not going to leave the issue alone.

“You’ve made your choice. I hope you’re ready for some conversations on the Senate floor that you’re not likely to enjoy,” he wrote. “This issue isn’t going away, and neither am I.”

Lee tweeted about a number of other controversial topics shortly before his suspension, including investigating Covid’s origins and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Zelensky has no right to presume that our sons and daughters will fight his war. Shame on him. We’ve somehow sent the message that we work for him. Shame on us!” he tweeted about Ukraine on Wednesday.

The official reason for Lee’s suspension is not yet known. The senator tweeted that he is currently “seeking answers.”

UPDATE: Lee announced on Wednesday evening that his personal Twitter account was restored. Musk tweeted that the senator’s account was “incorrectly flagged as impersonation.”

“His personal account (@BasedMikeLee) was incorrectly flagged as impersonation, which is not totally crazy, since it is based,” Musk wrote.