Republican Rick Santorum bashes White House for 'sideshow' behavior that has a 'corrosive effect' on the GOP

On Tuesday, former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum warned that the 'sideshow' antics in the White House have a negative impact on the Republican party.

The special election runoff for the U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi, between disgraced Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy, is very close.

Santorum noted that no matter who wins that it will be a bad night for Republicans.

"I think Cindy Hyde-Smith will win this race. But this is not going to be a great night for Republicans," Santorum told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "If we end up winning this by six or seven points, that is just more of the same from election day."

"So the message to the White House is that the sideshow that goes on every day in the White House has a corrosive effect on our ability to win races," he said.

He added, "We would be talking about a lot of different things. We spent most of the time tonight talking about Donald Trump and Mueller instead of other issues that may have fit in that could have been important to drive a different message."

"So message to the White House-- the fixation on this scandal is having electoral consequences now with 40 house seats," Santorum said.

Watch the video below via CNN.