Trump lets election-loser Flavio Bolsonaro stay in US indefinitely

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who lost the presidential election to Lula da Silva, secretly left the country despite a travel ban. Trump called Brazil’s election a “disgrace,” while media reports detailed his departure.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who lost the presidential election and left the country, could remain in the United States for as long as he wished. He made the remarks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

“I think he has been treated very badly, really very badly. So he can stay here as long as he wants,” Trump said. He called Brazil’s election a “complete disgrace” but did not directly answer whether he had met Bolsonaro. Trump previously said he had allowed Bolsonaro and his family to enter the United States.

Investigation and travel ban

Investigations into corruption and money laundering are underway against the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. A court ordered his passport confiscated, but the senator managed to secretly leave Brazil; media reports said he first headed to Argentina and then to Ecuador. President Lula da Silva called his departure despite the ban “disgraceful.”

Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court is also investigating the alleged illegal financing of the biographical film Dark Horse about his father’s life. The newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo reported that the senator is also implicated in another money-laundering case linked to his lawyer, Willer Tomaz.

“Operation Alba”

CNN Brasil, citing surveillance-camera recordings, reported that Bolsonaro crossed the border into Argentina with his wife and two daughters via the Tancredo Neves Bridge and then boarded a private Gulfstream G400 aircraft in Puerto Iguazú. The channel said he was accompanied by a former employee of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and that the departure, dubbed “Operation Alba,” had been planned before the end of the election campaign.

Trump lets election-loser Flavio Bolsonaro stay in US indefinitely