The son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is lobbying the Trump administration to stand up for the "restoration of democracy and freedom" in his country after his father was indicted on charges of leading a coup plot against his successor.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is a federal congressman in Brazil, also is arguing that the judge leading the case against his father falls under the criteria for sanctions by the U.S. government, reports The Financial Times.
In February, Brazil's prosecutor-general charged the former president with staging a coup to remain in office after his loss to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022.
The plot allegedly included plans to kill Lula, his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading the case and others against former President Bolsonaro.
His son told The Financial Times that pro-Trump lawmakers and officials are receptive to his arguments that Lula is leading Brazil into authoritarianism.
"Jair Bolsonaro is already a condemned man," Bolsonaro said in the interview. "It is very likely they will try to kill him in jail or that he'll never leave jail."
He also mocked the indictment against his father, noting that an insurrection in Brasilia happened on a Sunday while government buildings were empty, his father was in Florida, and Lula was out of town.
"What kind of a coup is that?" he argued. "It's about as effective as me trying to fire a bullet from my mobile phone. It's what in law is called an 'impossible crime'."
Bolsonaro said that he's not asking the United States to directly intervene on his father's behalf, but insisted that de Moraes "has more than met the conditions for [U.S. Treasury] sanctions...it's not me who's going to get him sanctioned, it's his own behavior."
He would not say who he met with during trips to Washington, D.C., in January or February or give details but said that all meetings requested have been accepted.
Bolsonaro is claiming that the U.S. Magnitsky Act, which was created to punish Russian officials for human rights violations, could also play against de Moraes because of his actions against political opponents and free speech.
He said he's learned from Trump while fighting political battles that "you have to work on everything politically."
A source linked to the Trump camp suggested the former president's son's arguments are having an effect, as it is U.S. government policy to fight censorship.
The former president, who has been friendly with President Donald Trump for years, was not able to attend his inauguration after de Moraes made him surrender his passport.
And now, prosecutors are calling for his son's passport to be taken away after lawmakers from Lula's party accused him of committing "crimes against national sovereignty" for his efforts against the Brazilian supreme court in the United States.
He told The Financial Times the government is trying to "silence" him.
Bolsonaro said in a speech at a conservative conference last month that Brazil, under Lula, is a "testing ground for the weaponization of the courts against conservative libertarians and Christians, always under the noble pretense of ‘protecting democracy."
Meanwhile, Trump's media group in February joined in with video platform Rumble to sue de Moraes, accusing him of censorship.
The next week the State Department attacked Brazil's government saying its moves to block access to U.S.-based social media companies is "incompatible with democratic values."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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