H.R. McMaster says Trump is 'aiding and abetting' Putin's election interference efforts

Former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Thursday said President Trump is "aiding and abetting" efforts by Russian President Vladimir Putin to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.

Trump needs to be "direct" and call Putin out "for what he's doing," McMaster told MSNBC's Hallie Jackson. "This sustained campaign of disruption, disinformation, and denial is aided by any leader who doesn't acknowledge it. That is why I think the president needs to be much stronger in condemning this effort to really reduce our confidence in who we are as a country."

McMaster said it is clear that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and Trump believes if he "confronts Putin directly" it will "inadvertently draw his own election into question."

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McMaster, a retired Army lieutenant general, left the Trump White House in 2018, after one year as national security adviser. He has largely been silent regarding Trump, refraining from publicly criticizing the president, and is now making the rounds to promote his new book, Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World.