'Ron Johnson is lucky he's not up for reelection': Democratic analyst

Former Hillary Clinton spokesperson Philippe Reines noted during an appearance on MSNBC that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is lucky he's not up for reelection in 2020 after the bad interview he had on "Meet the Press."

Johnson not only refused to answer any questions about President Donald Trump and Ukraine, he started by spouting off dispelled conspiracy theories touted by the president. Typically passive host Chuck Todd shouted the senator down for trying to lie on air to make Trump feel better.

"I’m not a fan of Ron Johnson," Reines confessed. "He is typically level-headed, although what he says isn’t something, I see is often accurate. But you almost feel sorry for him, but if I said I were I'd be lying. This is a situation of his own making. To answer your question, the reason that they shift, to give him a little more credit than I should especially on live TV and social media -- they'll come after me -- he seems to have had the right instinct when he heard about what had happened and called Trump and said, 'What’s up with this?'"

Today he finds himself in the difficult position other Republicans also do, Reines continued.

"This is not an excuse, but Chuck Todd hit the nail on the head. He put on a clinic when he said what exactly are you going on and on about? If he doesn’t want to answer questions and try to explain what he was concerned about, then he should stick to Fox and rant and rave about Peter Strzok. This is someone who is lucky that he’s not up for whatever four years because he will not be on another Sunday show outside of Fox for quite some time."

If Republicans, and indeed President Trump, were concerned about Strzok and his involvement in the Mueller report, Trump's allies likely wouldn't be in Italy trying to dig up dirt to discredit the Mueller investigation.

Watch the exchange below: