Krauthammer: Stunning that Republicans have given up on defending Trump

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer responded to the New York Times bombshell report alleging what appeared to be obstruction of justice by President Trump.

He said it was "stunning" that so few Republicans were coming to his defense, but it was understandable after a string of controversies and scandals. He made the comments Tuesday on Special Report on Fox News.

"I think what's really stunning is that nobody, not even from the White House," Krauthammer said, "has come out under their own name in defense of the president here. You got an anonymous statement, we don't see any Republicans on camera.

"And that is totally understandable," he explained, "they just watched over the last ten days, people who went out on a limb over the Comey firing, and said it was a result of the memo of the deputy attorney general, had the limb sawed off by Donald Trump himself without a flinch and were left humiliated and contradicted."

"And then when you look at what happened with the Russian ambassador," he continued, "last night people were saying, the people high up that were in the room, by name said that this never happened. And then in the morning it looks as if the tweets that Trump issued acknowledged it happened and he had every right to do it."

"So who is going to step out now and defend the president in these denials which could very well be true," Krauthammer concluded, "when you've seen what happened to Republicans who stepped out on denials in two other cases, and were left like on an ice flow off of Norway?"

Krauthammer referred to the shifting of the administration's narrative about why FBI Director James Comey was fired. White House spokespersons said that Trump had followed the recommendation from Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein on the matter, but later in an interview Trump said he would have fired him even without the recommendation.

His second example referred to administration officials denying a Washington Post report that Trump had told Russians confidential information. The next morning Trump appeared to confirm the report but claiming he was within his right to do so.

Democrats are already jumping on the opportunity to call for impeachment of the president, while Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has sent a letter to the FBI demanding they produce documents in order that the accusations be investigated fully.