US President Barack Obama says he has advised his successor Donald Trump not to attempt to run the White House « the way you would manage a family business ».
In an interview with ABC News , Mr Obama said that Mr Trump must « respect » US institutions.
« After you have been sworn in, » he said, « you are now in charge of the largest organisation on Earth ».
He warned that there was a difference between governing and campaigning.
« There are world capitals and financial markets and people all around the world who take really seriously what he [Mr Trump] says, » Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama also talked about the US intelligence agency’s report into alleged cyber-attacks by Russia and the attempt to influence the 2016 US presidential campaign.
He said that he had « underestimated » the impact of such attacks.
« I think that I underestimated the degree to which, in this new information age, it is possible for misinformation… and so forth to have an impact on our open societies. »
He said that a conversation had taken place with Mr Trump in which he had discussed the importance of having faith in the intelligence community.
« There are going to be times where the only way you can make a good decision is if you have confidence that the process is working, » he said.
Last week Mr Trump said he was a « big fan » of intelligence agencies , after months of casting doubt on the Russian link to the security breach. But he later raised questions over how the Democratic Party had responded to the cyber-attacks.
« How and why are they so sure about hacking if they never even requested an examination of the computer servers? What is going on? » Mr Trump asked in a tweet .
Mr Trump will be inaugurated on 20 January.
