Perhaps they feel like they still have to support him, as he is still the president and they are the ones who supported his election and reelection and they do not want to have to admit to their mistake as a collective whole.
I've noticed politicians never answer questions directly, they play around with words and skirt the issue when asked a question. I think it just points out that politicians, in general, are dishonest.
Fancy words and skirting issues goes back to the Constitution, in which slavery was never mentioned directly, which led to generations of Americans debating slavery, often violently, and led to our own Civil War.