Rick Santorum falls apart during CNN defense of Trump as fellow Republican Charlie Dent smirks

As CNN contributor Rick Santorum struggled to defend Donald Trump's quid pro quo proposal to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday morning, his fellow Pennsylvania Republican, former Rep. Charlie Dent, laughed at his fumbling for answers.

Sitting down with "New Day" host John Berman, Santorum once again attempted to make the case that the president was withholding aid over Ukraine corruption and not because he was seeking dirt on political opponents -- and didn't fare well as Berman kept fact-checking him.

With the two former GOP lawmakers on split-screen, Santorum refused to concede that the president was asking for a personal favor during the phone-call that eventually led to a House impeachment inquiry into the president's actions.

After Santorum tried to accuse former President Barack Obama of also making deals with foreign leaders, host Berman brought him up short.

"He [Trump] said 'I want you to do us a favor though.' When somebody asks me for a favor, I typically think they want a favor," Berman pressed to Dent's amusement.

"He said I'm concerned about corruption and how it might affect the elections. He talked about 2016, that's what he talked about," Santorum replied.

"But after -- but he asked for the favor after Zelensky made a request for the Javelins, the anti-tank weapons," Berman shot back. "He said 'I need a favor though.' That was the issue."

Attempting to talk over the CNN host, Santorum brought up "investigating the 2016 election," as Berman persisted.

"He then said talk to Rudy [Giuliani] about the Biden," Berman recalled. "He said talk to Bill Barr about the Bidens, Zelensky didn't --."

"Again, after Zelensky brought up the issue," Santorum attempted, as Dent once again smirked.

Later Santorum conceded that what Trump did was "inappropriate," but maintained that it was not impeachable.

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