"If you want to destroy an organization, any organization, you destroy it from within, you destroy it from without and then what you do is you convince everybody that you're doing the right thing," McRaven told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead."

"So when you take a look at what the President has done, he's undermined the intelligence community, the law enforcement community, the Department of Justice, the State Department. He has called the press the enemy of the American people and I will tell you, I've fought a lot of America's enemies. The press is not the enemy of the American people."

McRaven, who oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, added that Trump is also "undermining us from without."

McRaven's comments to CNN expand on his New York Times op-ed published earlier Thursday under the headline "Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President."

"...if this president doesn't demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office -- Republican, Democrat or independent -- the sooner, the better," he wrote. "The fate of our Republic depends upon it."

Trump has previously dismissed criticism from McRaven, labeling him a Hillary Clinton supporter in 2018.

CLARIFICATION: The headline and story have been updated to properly reflect McRaven's statements on CNN.

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Architect of bin Laden raid says Trump is working to 'destroy' the country - CNN