The Trump campaign has come out swinging after Hillary Clinton called half of her opponent's supporters "deplorables," but GOP lawmakers don't seem to want to join in the lambasting, The New York Times reports.

The Democratic presidential candidate walked back her words on Saturday, but the Republican campaign has already released an ad skewering her for it, and Donald Trump has called her out for it in statements and speeches.

Mike Pence, Trump's running mate, met with Republican lawmakers in Washington DC on Tuesday to encourage them to help the Trump campaign criticize Clinton for the remark, The Times reports, citing several anonymous sources who had knowledge of the meetings.

GOP congressmen - including Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Ted Cruz of Texas - were unwilling to comply, however.

Some of them allegedly declined because of Trump's initial reticence toward denouncing former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, or because he has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN Monday, Pence danced around using the word "deplorable" to characterize Duke - instead saying he was a "bad man," and insisting Clinton should "retract the entire [deplorables] statement without qualification."

Read the full New York Times story here»