Bolsonaro to receive US visa days after Brazil election defeat
Flávio Bolsonaro casting his vote in Sunday's presidential run-off, which he lost to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva before reportedly fleeing to the United States with his wife and two daughters.Flávio Bolsonaro, son of jailed ex-president Jair, abandoned his demand for annulment of the result by Monday, pledging instead to lead the opposition.
Flávio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old defeated Brazilian senator, fled to the United States after defying a Supreme Court order that required his passports to be surrendered within 24 hours amid a money laundering investigation he denies. He left Brazil by crossing into Argentina over the Tancredo Neves International Bridge alongside his wife Fernanda and daughters Carolina and Luiza, then boarded a private charter flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Trump told reporters on Wednesday he "approves" of Bolsonaro's arrival, calling the family "fine people" and branding Brazil's election "terrible."
Bolsonaro's father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, did the same after his 2022 election loss — and was later sentenced to 27 years for plotting a coup.
Lula, 81, condemned the flight as "shameful," saying Bolsonaro could have stayed in Brazil and proven the accusations against him were not true.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, based in the US and convicted in absentia in June for illegally lobbying the Trump administration, reportedly encouraged Flávio to flee if he lost.
