'They deserve this situation': Ex-Republican Congressman blames his own party for 'lying with dogs and getting fleas'

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) isn't surprised that Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is refusing to comment about anything involving the president.

During a panel discussion on MSNBC host Katy Tur's Thursday show, Jolly responded to the awkward silence as reporters followed McConnell asking for comment on Trump's legal troubles. He began by citing instructions from Republican Congressional Committee chief Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), who encouraged members to "keep your powder dry" and don't say anything one way or another if they can avoid it. If necessary, bail on Trump.

"Listen, and in the words of Tom Cole and in the silence of Mitch McConnell, we see the real truth, which is the Republican Party, right now is terrified of what comes next," Jolly predicted. "And you can look at it in real time, a snapshot of what is it that [Michael] Cohen can share regarding the president's knowledge of these payments, right?"

The reality is, according to Jolly, if Cohen hands special counsel Robert Mueller some facts about Trump knowingly having these conversations, the president is in trouble.

"Something else we saw, the fact that Bob Mueller wants to delay the sentencing of Mike Flynn, that Mike Flynn continues to cooperate," he continued. "The reality is there are a lot more shoes to drop. Republicans know that. Katy, I would also say this. They deserve this situation. I mean, you lay with dogs, you are going to get fleas. They have so embraced Donald Trump that the brand of Donald Trump and the brand of the GOP are indistinguishable to voters."

He went on to say that Mueller is being validated the more the cases unfold. In just one month, the approval for the Mueller investigation has increased 11 percent from 48 percent up to 59 percent, according to a Fox News poll.

"He is putting points on the board, if you will," Jolly said. "When you have convictions, when you have plea deals, when you have people now cooperating, look, the American people don't necessarily have to understand all of the elements that go into these various alleged crimes. But when they see convictions and plea deals, they know that something stinks...The American people can understand this whether they care about the facts of the case or not."

That, according to Jolly, is why Democrats are beginning to hammer the idea of corruption.

"What you had this week... is a federal judge affirm a plea deal regarding a campaign finance violation that has been entered into federal court as a crime," he noted. "The person who copped to that, named the president of the United States, and the president of the United States went on TV an admitted that he cooperated with that and aided in that and conspired with that. The American people understand conspiracy if they don't care about the underlying crime. They know conspiracy is a crime that the president is a focus of."

Watch the full discussion below: