Republicans on Capitol Hill have decried the “drama” emanating from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue but remained characteristically tight-lipped in response to the reports that Donald Trump divulged “highly classified” information to senior Russian officials. It’s a chain of reaction that has now grown routine within the party that controls the three branches of the US government.

Hours after Trump defended his right as president to share “facts” with Russia, which he said pertained to terrorism and airline safety, lawmakers on Capitol Hill sought more details from the White House – with some calling for the release of transcripts or a briefing before Congress by senior administration officials.

But while condemnation poured in from Democrats and a handful of Trump’s familiar critics within his own party, most Republicans had resigned themselves to accept the perpetual state of chaos at the White House.

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“Certainly it’s less than ideal, but it is what it is,” Senator Marco Rubio of Florida told reporters.

Jeff Flake, a senator from Arizona, said it would “be nice to have a drama-free week”.

“But I suppose it’s going to continue,” he added, “so we’ll have to get used to it.”

At a press conference on Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, repeated his wish for “a little less drama emanating from the White House”, amplifying the frustration among Republican leaders who feel their policy agenda has been continuously thwarted by Trump’s penchant for controversy.

“These are daily – not daily, hopefully, but it seems like lately daily – distractions, and you just have to manage around it,” Senator John Thune, a Republican of South Dakota, told reporters after the conference. “I think our job is to try and stay focused on the things that we want to accomplish.”

In a clear sign of contrast between the parties, Senate Republican leaders spent the majority of their weekly press conference speaking about healthcare before taking a handful of questions that McConnell mostly responded to with a one-word answer.

Asked if he had any concerns about the president’s ability to handle classified information, McConnell took a lengthy pause, before replying: “No.”

Democratic leaders, speaking directly after the Republicans, used their weekly press conference to sharpen their demands.

“The president should make full, unedited transcripts available immediately ... no ifs, no ands, no buts,” said Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader. “It may have put national security and our intelligence operation at risk. Congress has the right to know.”

Schumer appealed to Republicans as “patriots” and implored them to join the effort to get the transcripts from the Oval Office meeting between Trump and the Russian foreign minister and ambassador.

According to the Washington Post report, there are internal memos and a full transcript from Trump’s meeting with the Russians. McConnell on Tuesday said he had confidence that the Senate intelligence committee would obtain any “additional information” it found pertaining to its inquiry into Russia’s meddling in the US election.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said the Senate should subpoena all transcripts related to Trump’s meeting with the Russian officials, as well as any tapes the White House may have of the president’s conversation with the former FBI director James Comey, who was fired last week amid the agency’s investigation into potential ties between Trump and Russia.

“Prosecuting 101: if you think evidence exists, put a subpoena on it,” Blumenthal told reporters. “If the party says it doesn’t exist, and in fact it turns out later it does, there are criminal penalties.”

Senator Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said the episode underscored the need for an independent panel to investigate potential links between Trump and Russia.

“Every day there’s more questions that need to be answered, including this week, and it really cries out for an independent commission to report to Congress and the American people,” Cardin told reporters.

The Washington Post reported on Monday that Trump had shared details of intelligence gathered about an Islamic State threat with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, during a private meeting in the Oval Office last week. The report, which alleged that Trump’s disclosure had to do with an Isis plot involving the use of laptops onboard passenger aircraft, was subsequently confirmed by several news outlets.

Most Republicans said they were struggling to understand what had transpired, citing the conflicting statements from Trump’s national security adviser HR McMaster and the allegations contained within the Washington Post report that broke the story. McMaster would not say on Tuesday whether Trump had shared classified information with the Russians, emphasizing instead that what the president had said was “wholly appropriate”.

Rubio told reporters as he stepped onto an elevator: “These were important allegations that were made, but I need to know the truth.”

The Republican senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who noted the volume of calls to his office were up slightly as a result of the news, said: “I think we have so much more to discern about what actually happened.”

There are currently three separate investigations, by the FBI and the Senate and House intelligence committees, into alleged Russian interference in the November presidential election that the US government has said was designed to boost Trump’s candidacy.

Republicans have so far resisted calls for a special prosecutor or independent commission, despite nearly 80% of Americans backing such action. In light of Trump’s latest Russia-related controversy, some Republicans agreed it would be useful to have tapes or transcripts made available to members of Congress – but others threw their unwavering support behind the White House.

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“I have a lot of confidence in the existing infrastructure on [the] foreign relations committee, a bipartisan group, and our deputy attorney general Rosenstein,” Senator Luther Strange of Alabama told reporters. “I have a lot of confidence in those guys, so we’ll just wait and hear what comes out.”

Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi said: “I’m not concerned.”

Those who have broken with the administration on a number of issues were more forthcoming in their criticism. Senator John McCain, a Republican of Arizona and chair of the Senate armed services committee, said in a statement on Tuesday: “Reports that this information was provided by a US ally and shared without its knowledge sends a troubling signal to America’s allies and partners around the world and may impair their willingness to share intelligence with us in the future.”

Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, had said the White House was in a “downward spiral” when the reports first surfaced Monday evening. On Tuesday, he tempered his response, telling reporters: “There’s some alignments that need to take place over there, and I think they’re fully aware of that.”

For now, Republicans contended with what has become the new normal: awaiting answers from the White House while gleaning information from the media.

“If it’s true this information was shared with the Russian ambassador,” said Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, “it seems to me it’d be ok to share with the US Senate.”