'Really?' Anderson Cooper dumbfounded as ex-Trump official contorts to defend 'Jesus' post

CNN's Anderson Cooper was stunned on Tuesday when a former Trump administration official defended the president's controversial Jesus post from last weekend.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated photo of himself appearing as Jesus Christ healing a sick man in bed. It also included images of the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, and military members. The image drew sharp criticism, which caused the president to delete it from his Truth Social feed.

Trump defended the picture by saying he didn't recognize the Christian iconography and thought the photo made him look like a doctor.

Matt Mowers, a former Trump administration official, attempted to defend the picture during an interview on "CNN Global Report: The War in Iran."

"I'm going to take him at his word that that's what he thought," Mowers said.

"Really?" Cooper responded. "You are?"

"As a Catholic, I'm glad he clarified it," Mowers continued.

"Do you worry that the president can't identify what a doctor looks like and thinks it's a man in biblical robes with celestial light pouring from his hands?" Cooper asked.

"I'm not going to assume that he's actually looked at every single post he puts up overly closely," Mowers said. "I don't think he does. He's quick to communicate through the social media platforms that he utilizes."