Russia interfered in the U.S. elections to get revenge against Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Poll: 51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college MORE, a former U.S. ambassador to the Kremlin said Sunday.

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Michael McFaul, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, said he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to help Donald Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE win the presidency to hurt Clinton.

"Let's remember that Vladimir Putin thinks [Clinton] interfered in his election — the parliamentary election in December 2011 — and has said as much publicly, and I've heard him talk about it privately," McFaul said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The New York Times reported last week that American intelligence agencies concluded that Russia acted covertly to harm Clinton's campaign and promote Trump.

Putin would also be motivated to help Trump because the two support many of the same policies, McFaul said.

"It's very rational in my view that [Putin] would rather see President-elect Trump be the next president of the United States instead of Secretary Clinton," he said.

"We really do need this bipartisan, independent investigation that others are calling for."