WATCH: CNN's Anderson Cooper destroys Rick Santorum after he said Trump 'didn't surround himself with criminals'

CNN's Anderson Cooper hammered Rick Santorum (R-PA) after he tried to claim that President Donald Trump didn't hire criminals after news broke that Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort — both who worked for the president — were found guilty of bank and tax fraud on Tuesday.

During the panel discussion, Santorum tried to divert attention from President Donald Trump problems, and instead tried to focus on a girl who was killed by an illegal immigrant.

"There are three big stories today. Two that we're talking about, Manafort and Cohen guilty pleas and convictions. But the third is a horrific story out of Iowa of this young girl being killed by an illegal immigrant," Santorum said.

Cooper then said that people actually do care about that latest plea deals.

"I know the base may not care, but just fair-minded people, don't you think you're selling them short to say they don't care about that?" Cooper asked.

Cooper then suggested that President Trump surrounded himself with criminals.

"To say he surrounded himself with convicted criminals, I mean, they were not convicted criminals when he surrounded himself with them. I think that's a little too much," Santorum said.

"They were [criminals] because they had already broken the law," Cooper responded.

"You're making the assumption he would have known they were doing criminal activity, which of course, he did not," Santorum said.

"Unless he was engaged in criminal activity and that's why he had so many around him, like his attorney," Cooper ended.

Watch the video below via CNN.