The Washington Post has quoted an unnamed source as saying that US President Donald Trump told donors at a recent fundraiser in Nashville that he believes that keeping their majority in the Senate will be a tricky task for Republicans.
"I think the Senate is tough actually. The Senate is very tough. There are a couple senators I can't really get involved in. I just can't do it. You lose your soul if you do. I can't help some of them. I don't want to help some of them", Trump reportedly said at the Nashville Marriott event. The White House has not commented on the report.
The fundraiser came hours before the second and final presidential debate between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, which was also held in Nashville.
During the debate, the US president said he thinks Republicans will instead take back control of the House, where Democrats currently hold a majority.
"I think we're going to win the House", POTUS claimed, adding that he thinks so because of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's behaviour and blaming her for delays on a new coronavirus stimulus bill.
"That's one of the reasons I think we're going to take over the House because of her", he pointed out.
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Jesse Hunt has, meanwhile, cast doubt on Trump's remarks that he does not support some Senate Republicans.
"The Republican-led Senate and President Trump have had a great partnership over the last four years, highlighted by the fact the chamber is poised to confirm a third Trump Supreme Count [Court] nominee in the coming days", Hunt told The Washington Post on Saturday.
"Nancy Pelosi has turned the House into a liberal nightmare and if Chuck Schumer gets control of the Senate, he'll do the same thing", Hunt added, in a nod to the upper chamber's Democratic minority leader.
Hunt spoke as Mandi Merritt, National Press Secretary for the Republican National Committee (RNC), was cited by The Hill as saying that "the enthusiasm for President Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot remains sky high".
"The RNC has built the biggest and most sophisticated Get Out the Vote programme in history, and we are confident that voters will turn out to elect Republicans as they understand what is at stake this election - freedom and prosperity under President Trump and Republicans, or a 'dark winter' ahead under Joe Biden and Democrats", Merritt emphasised.
Trump Slams Republican Senator 'Little Ben' Sasse in Response to 'Narcissist' Jibe
The remarks came a week after Trump hit out at Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who earlier slammed POTUS as a "TV-obsessed narcissist" who "spends like a drunken sailor".
The spat began on Thursday when the Washington Examiner reported a telephone conference with Nebraska constituents where Sasse, clearly worried by pollsters predicting a landslide for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, attacked Trump mercilessly.
The senator believed Trump was "likely" to lose to Biden on 3 November and could take Republican senators down with him, saying: "I think we are staring down the barrel of a blue tsunami and we've got to hold the Senate and that's what I'm focused on".
The president branded the Nebraska Senator "little Ben" in a series of tweets, in which he compared Sasse to other disloyal Republicans, including former Arizona Senate Republican Jeff "the Flake" Flake.
Trump also described Sasse as a "RINO" - Republican in Name Only - and suggested that he should be ready to quit or else should be replaced by the party in his state.