Trump says Flavio Bolsonaro can stay in US as long as he wants
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Flavio Bolsonaro stepping off a plane after arriving at Opa Locka Executive Airport in Miami, Florida, on Oct 28.
PHOTO: AFP
- Trump said Flavio Bolsonaro can stay in the US “as long as he wants” after Brazil’s disputed election and his move to the US under humanitarian parole.
- Rubio spoke with Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and said they may meet again at a G7 summit in France, hinting at possible thawing ties.
- Bolsonaro faces money-laundering probes in Brazil, while Reuters says Trump has no current plan to back his political ambitions or meet him.
AI generated
PALM BEACH, Florida – President Donald Trump said on the evening of Oct 31 that defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro can stay in the US indefinitely.
The comments, made to reporters during a Halloween party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, suggest that relations between the Western Hemisphere’s two largest democracies may remain strained for some time, even as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Brazil’s top diplomat earlier in the day.
“He can stay here as long as he wants,” Trump said of Bolsonaro, who left Brazil after losing the election to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, despite leading in most opinion polls. “In my opinion, the election was a disgrace.”
The Brazilian embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment.
Observers described the election as free and fair. Bolsonaro’s decision to go to the US followed a ruling by a Brazilian Supreme Court justice to revoke his passport shortly after his loss, as he faces a pair of federal money-laundering probes in Brazil, and police considered him a flight risk.
He was admitted to the US under humanitarian parole, a status that typically only lasts for one year.
Rubio said earlier on Oct 31 that he spoke with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira at a Group of 20 meeting in Atlanta, and that they would see each other again in a few weeks.
In comments that had pointed to a potential rapprochement, Rubio told journalists that he and Vieira were expected to see each other again in France at a G7 foreign ministers’ summit in November. Brazil is expected to attend the meeting as an observer, he said.
A US official and a person familiar with the matter said that Trump has no current plans to support the political ambitions of Bolsonaro despite allowing him into the US. Trump on Oct 31 said he has no plans to meet him.
Rubio said on Oct 31 that the US government “was not involved directly in any of the moves” that led to Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil. However, media outlets have reported that Jason Miller, a White House official, helped arrange Bolsonaro’s journey.
Bolsonaro’s father, far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, is imprisoned in Brazil for plotting a coup after losing his own re-election bid in 2022. Lula himself spent 17 months in jail in 2018 and 2019 on corruption charges that were later annulled. REUTERS