Donald Trump wants to remove US troops from northern Syria rather than leaving them as “cannon fodder” if fighting broke out between Turkey and Kurdish fighters, Robert F Kennedy Jr said on Wednesday.

Speaking to Tucker Carlson during a live broadcast covering the US presidential election result, the Trump ally, who is expected to play a major role in his government, said the president-elect had expressed his intentions for northern Syria during a plane journey.

“We were talking about the Middle East, and he took a piece of paper and he drew on it [a] map of the Middle East with all the nations on it, which most Americans couldn’t do,” he told the right-wing broadcaster.