Top Republicans stand up for Rounds after Trump's attack: He 'told the truth'

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(CNN)Senior Republicans are closing ranks behind Sen. Mike Rounds after he endured a scathing attack from former President Donald Trump for acknowledging the reality that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

"I think Sen. Rounds told the truth about what happened in the 2020 election," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN on Tuesday. "And I agree with him."

The back-and-forth is the latest sign that many Republicans -- particularly in the Senate -- are eager to move past the former President's obsession with the 2020 elections and instead focus on more fertile ground: The Biden agenda and their efforts to take back both houses of Congress in 2022.

Yet, Trump continues to hover over the party given his outsize influence with the base, his close hold over House Republicans and his ability to generate attention over his outright falsehoods and conspiracies over the outcome of the 2020 election. That has prompted concerns among senior Republicans that his claims over the election could depress GOP voter turnout in the fall, something that a number of senators blame for costing them the two Georgia Senate seats -- and the majority -- last January.

The latest blowup came over the weekend after Rounds said that any voting "irregularities" in 2020 wouldn't have changed the outcome of the race.

"The election was fair, as fair as we have seen. We simply did not win the election, as Republicans, for the presidency," Rounds told ABC News.

That fact-based comment prompted a broadside from the former President, who called Rounds a "jerk" and "ineffective" and vowed "never" to endorse Rounds for reelection, though he's not facing voters again until 2026.

"Is he crazy or just stupid?" Trump said in a statement.

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