Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said Tuesday he doesn’t think the presidential nominating rules are “rigged,” but that they are “biased.”

“I hear someone’s been saying they’re rigged. I don’t think they’re rigged, but they are biased, and intentionally so,” Mr. Paul said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

GOP front-runner Donald Trump, after watching Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas pick up additional delegates at a state convention in Colorado over the weekend, has blasted the system as rigged and crooked.

“Rigged would mean that it was illegal, it was somehow shady,” said Mr. Paul, a former 2016 GOP presidential candidate. “No, it’s done somewhat in the open, but they are biased in favor of the establishment.”

Mr. Paul pointed to the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa, where delegates passed a rule requiring a candidate win a majority of delegates in at least eight states to get their name considered for the presidential nomination.

Many saw that as a way to limit the role of the Kentucky senator’s father, former Texas Rep. and 2012 GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul.

“This is a big deal. Because think about it: Kasich’s votes cannot be counted, under Rule 40(b) they should not be counted,” the younger Mr. Paul said Tuesday. “When you think about it, both Cruz and Trump have a great deal of incentive not to let anybody else have votes.”

“That’s what the rules currently state. However, 110 people are going to be very important — that’s the rules committee — and they’re going to decide what the rules are,” he said.

“They tried to exclude my father in 2012, and now it’s backfiring on some people who would like to see Kasich or Rubio,” Mr. Paul said.

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