H.R. McMaster, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, said Thursday that the president is “aiding and abetting” Vladimir Putin’s efforts to undermine the American electoral system.
McMaster’s comment came during an interview on MSNBC in response to a question asking whether he agreed that Trump posed the biggest threat to the integrity of the nation’s election.
“I agree that he is aiding and abetting Putin’s efforts by not being direct about this, right? By not just calling out Putin for what he’s doing,” McMaster said.
“Putin gets away with, I mean, literally murder or attempted murder… because people don’t call him out on it. And so they are able to continue with this kind of firehose of falsehood, to sow these conspiracy theories,” he said, referring to the president’s claims regarding mail-in voting and widespread voter fraud, adding that “we just can’t be our own worst enemies.” (RELATED: H.R. McMaster: Some WH Advisers ‘Cast Themselves In The Role Of Saving The Country And Maybe The World From Trump’)
On Trump pushing dangerous LIES about #MailInBallots & voter fraud, former Trump adviser HR McMaster says Trump is “aiding and abetting” Putin’s efforts to sow doubt about our elections: “Putin gets away with…literally murder or attempted murder.”????https://t.co/S7pDQRVI73
— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) October 1, 2020
The president has repeatedly claimed that millions of “unsolicited” ballots are being sent to Americans in numerous states, and that “we may never know who won the election” as a result, though only four states are sending ballots to every registered voter for the first time in 2020, USA Today reported.
Trump picked McMaster to lead the White House National Security Council in 2017, Politico reported.
Though the risk for fraud is slightly higher with additional mail-in ballots, according to NPR, the risks are largely alleviated with proper security measures, and there is no proof of the widespread fraud that Trump claims will compromise the election, Politico reported.
H.R. McMaster, national security advisor, listens as U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean defectors in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Zach Gibson-Pool/Getty Images)
Though McMaster is the most recent high-level former member of the Trump administration to publicly criticize the president, he is not the first. He was relieved from his role by the president in 2018.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.