Trump Signals Approval for Flavio Bolsonaro’s US Stay Following Brazilian Election Defeat

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump said early Wednesday that he would approve Senator Flavio Bolsonaro coming to the United States following his defeat in Brazil’s presidential election, while continuing to question the conduct of the vote.

Speaking to reporters after returning from campaign rallies in Texas ahead of next week’s US midterm elections, Trump said he would have no objection to Bolsonaro entering the country.

Trump described Sunday’s election, won by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by more than 4 million votes, as “very strange.” Although he said he had not endorsed either candidate, he criticized the electoral process as “terrible,” while acknowledging that the outcome was acceptable.

Asked about Bolsonaro’s whereabouts, Trump said he had heard the senator was in Argentina but did not know his precise location.

Trump’s comments followed confirmation from a senior US State Department official to Anadolu on Tuesday that Washington would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family.

Meanwhile, Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported, citing allies of the Bolsonaro family, that the senator had arrived in Miami, Florida, where his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro reportedly welcomed him. Eduardo allegedly helped coordinate his departure with US authorities.

The reported departure has raised questions in Brazil, as Bolsonaro was subject to a travel ban imposed on Monday by a justice of the country’s Supreme Federal Court, one day after losing the presidential runoff to Lula.

Brazil’s Federal Police canceled Bolsonaro’s ordinary and diplomatic passports on Tuesday after he failed to comply with an order to surrender them.

The restrictions are connected to an investigation into suspected money laundering and foreign currency evasion involving financial transactions linked to an associate of Bolsonaro. The senator denies any wrongdoing and said on Monday that he had no intention of leaving Brazil.

Adding to the uncertainty, Brazilian police said they had found no record of Bolsonaro departing through an official immigration checkpoint. Argentine immigration authorities also reported no record of his entry into Argentina.

The conflicting accounts surrounding Bolsonaro’s whereabouts, alongside Trump’s willingness to approve his potential arrival in the United States, have added another dimension to the political tensions following Brazil’s presidential election.