"My father talked about a rigged system throughout the campaign, and people were like, 'Oh, what are you talking about?'" Donald Trump Jr. said. "But it is. And you're seeing it." | Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images Trump Jr. suggests top government officials are undermining his father

President Donald Trump's son suggested Tuesday evening that "people at the highest levels of government" are conspiring against the Trump administration, evidence, he said, of the president's campaign claims about a "rigged" system.

"There is, and there are, people at the highest levels of government that don't want to let America be America," Donald Trump Jr. told a group of young conservatives in Florida, lobbing accusations of bias at special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in last year’s election and allegations that Trump’s campaign somehow colluded with those efforts.


"My father talked about a rigged system throughout the campaign, and people were like, 'Oh, what are you talking about?'" Trump Jr. said. "But it is. And you're seeing it."

Trump Jr.’s remarks were first published by CNN.

Mueller’s team has come under scrutiny in recent weeks in the wake of his firing of FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was found to have sent text messages critical of Trump before the election. Strzok’s dismissal from the special counsel's team has amplified voices from Trump defenders who claim Mueller’s entire investigation is baseless and intended only to harm the president politically.

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While Strzok’s firing and the reasons behind it have been covered by the media, some of the president’s allies have complained that the story has been ignored or downplayed by reporters. As an example, Trump Jr. suggested that a similar situation involving a group of FBI officials and former President Barack Obama would have received significantly more attention.

"What do you think would happen?" Trump Jr. asked. "Do you think the media would cover that? Yeah. Do you think it would be brushed under the rug like, 'Oh, it's nothing. It doesn't mean anything.' There'd be revolution in the streets. So I'm glad that this is coming out now, because it is good, because real people have to see this."