Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has come up with a novel defense of President Donald Trump: It’s all about consistency.

“The president doesn’t tell the truth about a lot of things fairly consistently,” Santorum said on “Anderson Cooper 360″ on Wednesday, adding:

“So the fact that he’s not telling the truth about Russia fairly consistently, at least in the eyes of the people around here, why is that any different? I mean, it’s not like he’s doing something out of character with the Russia investigation, that he’s not doing in other areas.”

The unusual approach appeared to catch the other members of the CNN panel off-guard.

“Is that really the best defense you can come up with?” asked CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

“The argument is he’s acting differently here than he is otherwise, and my point is he’s not,” said Santorum. “I’m not saying any of it’s good, but the point is, he’s not acting differently.”

Journalist Carl Bernstein wasn’t buying it, saying there was a “real specificity” to Trump’s lies regarding the Russia investigation.

“It’s a very careful denial when it comes to Russia,” Bernstein said. “There is a difference.”