Former national security advisor H.R. McMaster: Trump 'should make clear elections are secure'

Retired US lieutenant general H.R. McMaster served as national security advisor to President Donald Trump from March 2017 to April 2018. In an interview with FRANCE 24, he condemned Trump's refusal to concede defeat to Joe Biden but said the US "shouldn't worry about" Trump clinging to power. However, he said the US president "should make clear that our elections are secure, which they are".

US President Donald Trump's former national security advisor H.R. McMaster told FRANCE 24 that despite Trump's refusal to recognise the outcome of the election, there was no need to worry about him clinging to power. McMaster said that US institutions were solid and rejected the notion that the transition to a Biden administration would be compromised.

However, he said he was "very concerned" at Trump's decision to sow doubts about the US electoral system, adding that the move played into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "No leader, including the president, should help Vladimir Putin do that," McMaster told FRANCE 24. He added that successive US presidents had tried and failed to mend fences with the Russian leader and said it was unrealistic to expect a better relationship with Putin.

But McMaster also credited the Trump administration for taking a "long overdue" tougher stance on China, which he described as the top priority for the incoming administration.

Finally, he urged the Biden administration to negotiate a "better" nuclear deal with Iran instead of merely going back to the 2015 agreement, saying that the next administration should refrain from systematically rolling back what was done during the Trump presidency in foreign policy.

WATCH: