Brazil’s President Office Was Briefed That Bolsonaro’s Sons Could Be Arrested

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This week’s VEJA issue illustrates Jair Bolsonaro’s change of attitude, as in recent months he has abandoned more pugnacious statements and has begun to negotiate with the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

A factor hitherto kept under lock and key was decisive for the President’s transformation. Aides at the Planalto Palace (President’s Office) were briefed that two of the President’s sons – federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro and Rio de Janeiro City Councilor Carlos Bolsonaro – could be the target of arrest warrants from STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Moraes is the rapporteur of investigations into the criminal financing of attacks and threats to authorities, the spread of fake news and the funding of rallies deemed anti-democratic. By law, federal deputies can only be arrested in the act of commiting a crime or for capital offenses. In Carlos’s case, immunity protects him only from the expression of opinions. According to information received by presidential aides, the two would likely be charged with crimes under the National Security Law. The message was passed on, by one of Bolsonaro’s main aides, directly to the Chief Executive and his sons.

In late September, new intelligence confirmed the Palace’s assessment that the President’s sons could be the target of more severe judicial decisions. In a deposition to the Federal Police, federal Deputy Alexandre Frota provided IP addresses of computers in Brasília and Rio linked to Eduardo that supposedly were involved in the spread of fake news on the Internet. One of the IPs is related to the e-mail address that Eduardo registered at the Electoral Court.

Alexandre de Moraes is considered the main player who led the Bolsonaro government to a change of course. By sharing the findings of the fake news investigation with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), he led the President to be certain that he was also at risk of losing his mandate. The TSE is conducting an electoral investigation into the potential illegal financing of the Bolsonaro election campaign in 2018, based on evidence gathered by the Supreme Court.

The head of the Presidency’s General Secretariat, Jorge Oliveira, announced by Bolsonaro as his next appointment to the Federal Audit Court (TCU) and considered by the President to be virtually a family member, was also directly involved in containing City Councilor Carlos Bolsonaro, through a shock of pragmatism: “Carlos, don’t you understand? Your father has to seek reconciliation. What do you want? To close the STF? If this goes on, your father could be arrested.”

Source: Veja

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