Anderson Cooper compares Trump to an 'obese turtle' following White House press conference

Following President Trump’s press conference Thursday evening, CNN’s election panel weighed in on his unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. President Trump made multiple accusations about illegal votes and mail-in voter fraud, saying, “This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election — trying to rig an election.” Everyone on the panel condemned the president’s speech, but host Anderson Cooper’s rebuke was perhaps the most harsh.

“That is the president of the United States,” said Cooper. “That is the most powerful person in the world and we see him like an obese turtle on his back, flailing in the hot sun, realizing his time is over but he just hasn't accepted it and he wants to take everybody down with him, including this country.”

Republican and former Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum, was unable to defend the president’s statement. In fact, he said, “No Republican elected official will stand behind that statement. None of them will.”

“Much of that statement was not factual and was at times incendiary and not something that a president of the United States should say,” said Santorum. “For the president to go out there and claim that without any evidence of that is dangerous.”

While the president has tried to stop votes from being counted in Pennsylvania and Georgia, his supporters are insisting that more votes be counted in Arizona. And according to David Axelrod, Trump’s last ditch effort to undermine democracy and create chaos is nothing new.

“There is nothing more sacred than this institution, and he is willing to subjugate the institutions of our democracy to his own personal interest and that has been true from the beginning, Axelrod said. “This is just the latest and the saddest chapter, and it's increasingly looking like the last one.”

For more political coverage from Anderson Cooper, Rick Santorum and the rest of panel, please visit CNN.

See why Dana Bash believes Joe Biden winning Arizona would be ‘John McCain’s last laugh’:

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

• Stephen Colbert explains why ‘it’s actually a good thing we don’t know who won yet’

• James Carville reassures Democratic voters: ‘Put the razor blades and the Ambien back in the medicine cabinet’

• CNN panel explodes after Trump makes unfounded claims about mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.