H.R. McMaster: Trump’s Election Comments ‘Is Something That Our Founders Feared’

Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster on Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room” called President Donald Trump’s comments about not committing to a peaceful transfer of power “very disappointing.”

Anchor Wolf Blitzer said, “Let’s talk about issues facing the American people right now. The president, very worrisome, refusing, I never thought I would see this or hear this, refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he were to use the presidential election. Did you ever think you would hear that coming from a president of the United States?”

McMaster said, “No, Wolf, this is very disappointing. Really this is something that our Founders feared. If you go back to the Federalist Papers and look at what James Madison and Alexander Hamilton wrote about, they wrote about the danger of factions, they meant political parties, if we identify with them more than we identify with our Republic, that that could lead to violence and so forth.”

He added, “We have to demand that our leaders restore confidence in our democratic principles and institutions and processes. And of course, it’s the administration who has responsibility to secure the election process. There’s been a lot of work done within that administration to do it after the lessons of the 2016 election. I think the comments are very unfortunate, Wolf. As you mentioned, our elections have been under attack in the past. Let’s not attack them ourselves. Let’s come together as Americans and execute a process we can have confidence in.”

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