thrown off guard

He had told the committee he had been under emotional stress at the time and was "completely thrown off guard and discombobulated" when he discovered leaks about the report's findings were circulating on the internet.

“We were thrown off guard by the S.B.A. shutdown,” he said.

But Wills said he was thrown off guard when resolutions opposing statehood started popping up in red-state legislatures.

Evie: No. No. Because I wouldn’t want them to be thrown off guard, like I was.

Mr. Trump may not have absorbed it because he was thrown off guard when told about a Democratic-financed dossier that included unproven allegations about his ties to Russia.