WATCH: Anderson Cooper Stunned by Bolton Claim Trump Defended Saudi Prince to Distract from Ivanka Email Scandal

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and political analyst Gloria Borger both offered their stunned reactions to an anecdote from John Bolton’s latest tell-all book, where the former national security advisor claims President Donald Trump concocted a ruse to distract from the embarrassing news that his daughter, Ivanka, used her personal email to conduct government business, committing the same transgression for which he mercilessly attacked his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton.

During Cooper’s Wednesday night show, Borger read directly from a pre-released copy of the book — which the Trump Justice Department is vainly attempting to suppress by claiming it contains classified material — and marveled at the excerpt about Trump trying to protect Ivanka from press criticism.

“He said that securing the second term was all that mattered and I’m going to give you another example here,” Borger noted. “He was caring about reelection so much, he wanted to keep his family out of every controversy. This is particularly damming, Anderson. He says that, and you remember this, in November of 2018, Trump came under fire for writing an unfettered defense of the Saudi Crown Prince littered with exclamation points over the killing of the Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.”

“But according to Bolton’s book, the main goal of the missive was to take away attention from a story about Ivanka Trump using her personal email for government business,” Borger continued. “And here is the quote: ‘This will divert from Ivanka, Trump said,’ according to the book. “‘If I read the statement in person, that will take over the Ivanka thing.'”

“Wow,” was all Cooper could muster in response.

“It’s unimaginable,” Borger said.

“Wow,” a still stunned Cooper said again.

“Yeah…yeah…the Khashoggi murder,” Borger repeated, hitting the last word for emphasis.

After stumbling through several false starts, Cooper finally connected his thoughts enough to say: “I mean, I’m not that surprised because clearly Ivanka is, you know, the star child that gets the focus from him and always has. But the fact that he actually thinks beyond his own needs, you know, I guess maybe that’s a way to look at that as being a sweet gesture he’s trying to help his daughter.”

“Sweet gesture, yeah,” Borger offered sarcastically.

“I’m just trying to be, you know, I’m trying to look for something,” a befuddled Cooper said.

“You’re trying to be nice, yeah,” Borger acknowledged. “It just remarkable. This is the murder of Khashoggi.”

“And the president of the United States,” Cooper added.

Watch the video above, via CNN.