But like other Republicans, Thune has no clear answer to this key question: What should they do to Trump after he lied to his supporters about the election being stolen, promoted the January 6 rally in DC and urged demonstrators to go to the Capitol, which they later rampaged in a deadly riot?

“Well, that’s a good question,” said Thune, who faces reelection in South Dakota next year. “One way, obviously, would be in a court of law.”…

The rhetoric showcases the split between House and Senate Republicans as the party struggles to find its voice after the tumultuous Trump era. Many House Republicans remain staunch Trump defenders, saying he did nothing wrong and shouldn’t be blamed for the violence that occurred at the Capitol.

“President Trump did not cause the attack on the Capitol on January 6,” freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the controversial Georgia Republican, told her supporters this week.