'He's made things up before': Fox panel prepares its viewers to turn on Flynn if he rats out Trump

A Fox News panel on Friday reacted to the news that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn might be cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe by fretting that Flynn would lie about President Donald Trump if it meant keeping his son out of jail.

Panelist David Avella started off by slamming new leaks about Mueller's investigation, which he said was a carefully constructed "PR stunt" intended to convince Americans that Trump had colluded with Russian government agents during the 2016 presidential election. Avella also said that it was ridiculous to focus on the 18 trips to Russia that were made by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, since Hillary Clinton had also traveled to Russia during her time as secretary of state.

Host Dagen McDowell interjected and pointed out that Mueller's probe was much more serious than a "PR stunt." However, she worried that Mueller would use his leverage over Flynn to force him to lie about Trump as a way to keep his son, Michael Flynn Jr., from serving a prison sentence.

 "The danger is these investigations put pressure on people to say things to get their loved ones off the hook," she said. "I will point to Michael Flynn's son... He's expressed concern in recent weeks that prosecutors will bring charges against his son. There lies the shadiness of the investigations. You put pressure on people to tell the special council things that did or didn't happen."

Panelist Kat Timpf shared McDowell's assessment, and said that Flynn had a demonstrated history of lying.

"Michael Flynn has made things up before. He's not really a trustworthy guy," she said. "We know for a fact that he lied when he said those meetings with the Russians were holiday greetings -- turns out they were talking about sanctions."