Trump defends former Brazilian president accused of attempting to overthrow 2022 election
"LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE," the president wrote on social media.
"LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE," the president wrote on social media.
"LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE," the president wrote on social media.
Former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is on trial for creating a movement to overturn election results, and President Donald Trump is speaking in his defense.
Video from 2023 above: Pro-Bolsonaro supporters breach security barriers and break into Brazil's Congress, high court
Bolsonaro lost his 2022 reelection bid to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist rival, by a margin of about 1.8 percentage points. He did not acknowledge the defeat, saying only that he would "comply with the Constitution."
A week after Lula was sworn in, thousands of radical supporters of Bolsonaro stormed the country's Congress, Supreme Court and presidential offices, protesting what they falsely claimed was a stolen election and looting and damaging the buildings.
The Supreme Court agreed in March to hear the case on the attempted election overturning against Bolsonaro, as well as seven other people, including several military officers.
During his trial last month, Bolsonaro denied that he led an attempt to overthrow the government but acknowledged participating in meetings to discuss reversing the election's outcome.
Bolsonaro said then that he and senior aides discussed the possibility of deploying military forces and suspending some civil liberties, but those proposals were dropped.
For years, Bolsonaro and his allies had advanced conspiracy theories around the country's electoral system, claiming that it was overrun with fraud and that elites were trying to remove him from office. He had challenged the legitimacy of voting machines, despite a lack of evidence, and hinted that he might not accept the results if he lost.
After the election, he said he supported peaceful protests inspired by “feelings of injustice in the electoral process.”
Bolsonaro never conceded that he had lost, but according to , he did not block the transfer of power and never outright claimed that he had won the election, as Trump did in 2020 after losing the election to former President Joe Biden. Instead, Bolsonaro left the country for the United States to avoid participating in Lula's inauguration.
In 2023, a seven-person federal court barred Bolsonaro from running for office until 2030. He still holds considerable political influence and popularity. If convicted in the current trial, he could face up to 40 years in prison.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.
On Monday, Trump criticized the legal actions, calling the prosecution a "witch hunt," saying Bolsonaro is “not guilty of anything” and comparing Bolsonaro’s trial to his own legal battles.
“His Election was very close and now, he is leading in the Polls. This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the ‘HOTTEST’ in the World!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“The Great People of Brazil will not stand for what they are doing to their former President. I’ll be watching the WITCH HUNT of Jair Bolsonaro, his family, and thousands of his supporters, very closely. The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil — It’s called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!” he continued.
