At an Axios news shapers event on Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) declined to directly respond when asked whether President Trump's tweets attacking four congresswomen of color were racist.
"I think what he sees is a lot of extremism from the House Democrats. ... The president is gonna tweet what he's gonna tweet."
State of play: After initial silence, Republicans have been rolling out their own backlash against the president, with figures from both chambers condemning the rhetoric.
Go deeper: Trump's racist tweets have created a new impeachment problem
