Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) on Wednesday filed a new indictment against conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro and his son, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, on allegations of “coercion” in the ongoing “coup” trial against Bolsonaro and “abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law.”
The indictment against the Bolsonaros — the fourth against the former president — stems from a new investigation launched by Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes this year. De Moraes ordered that the Federal Police determine if Eduardo Bolsonaro is promoting “retaliatory actions by the administration of President Donald Trump against Brazilian government officials and STF justices.”
The new indictment occurs weeks before September 2, 2025, the date when STF will start the trial against Bolsonaro after the former president and all other defendants presented their final statements to the court this month.
The Brazilian Federal Police reportedly concluded at the end of their investigation that former President Bolsonaro and Eduardo Bolsonaro — who requested political asylum in the U.S. this year — allegedly worked with others to “interfere” in the “coup” trial. Jair Bolsonaro stands accused alongside several other individuals of allegedly plotting to stage a coup and overturn the results of the controversial 2022 presidential election, which a then-incumbent Bolsonaro narrowly lost against socialist convicted felon Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is presently serving his third term.
The police argued in its report that the “actions” of Eduardo Bolsonaro and others directly targeted “Brazilian democratic institutions” such as the STF and the nation’s Congress “in order to subject them to personal interests.” Some of the actions, the police asserted, include alleged attempts to pressure Brazilian lawmakers to approve amnesty bill proposals and remove STF Justices, as well as threats of imposing sanctions against lawmakers.
The investigators reportedly claimed that they were able to retrieve text messages between Jair and Eduardo Bolsonaro, in which the congressman allegedly pressured Jair Bolsonaro to “take action to maintain U.S. support.” In one such message, the police asserted, Eduardo Bolsonaro recommended that his father publish a tweet thanking President Trump. The police presented the messages as evidence of Eduardo Bolsonaro’s “intention to continue with illegal actions in the United States.”
PF also claimed that as part of its investigations, it found a purported draft document in Bolsonaro’s cell phone that, they claimed, suggests Bolsonaro planned to request political asylum in Argentina from President Javier Milei in 2024.
According to the federal police, the 33-page draft document was saved on the device two days after Operação Tempus Veritatis (“Operation Time of Truth”), a February 2024 police raid ordered by de Moraes that concluded in which officials seized Bolsonaro’s passport, effectively trapping him in Brazil.
“The information found therefore indicates that former President Jair Bolsonaro had in his possession a document that would enable him to flee Brazil to Argentina,” the police report allegedly read, “notably after the Federal Police launched an investigation identifying material evidence and criminal authority regarding crimes of violent abolition of the democratic rule of law by a criminal organization.”
An unnamed Argentine government source told Reuters on Thursday that President Milei’s office had not received a letter of that nature.
According to the outlet Poder 360, the police report concluded by claiming that Eduardo Bolsonaro had prior knowledge of the measures that the Trump administration imposed on Brazil and asserting that the sanctions imposed by the U.S. “were intended to coerce Supreme Court officials and prevent possible criminal convictions of Jair Bolsonaro and other defendants.”
According to local outlets, de Moraes gave Bolsonaro’s defense team a 48-hour deadline to present explanations for the purported asylum request draft letter, which the controversial justice attributed to an alleged repetition of the former President’s “illegal conduct.” Upon receiving a response, de Moraes will forward the documentation to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Brazil for its response.
“The evidence obtained by the Federal Police indicates that Jair Messias Bolsonaro was in possession of a document intended to enable his escape from the country,” de Moraes reportedly said.
Former President Jair Bolsonaro is unable to legally comment on the matter after de Moraes ordered his house arrest in early August. Bolsonaro is also prohibited from utilizing social media or using any kind of phone device under penalty of imprisonment, in addition to other highly restrictive measures.
Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro responded to the indictment in a social media post in which he stated that his activities in the U.S. never had the purpose of interfering in any ongoing process in Brazil, and stressed that his cause is the “restoration of individual freedoms in the country, through legislative means, with a focus on the amnesty bill currently under discussion in the National Congress.” The Congressman also said that it is “lamentable and shameful” to see the federal police treat private conversations between father and son and allies as a crime.
“If my ‘crime’ is fighting against the Brazilian dictatorship, I hereby declare myself guilty in advance,” Eduardo Bolsonaro wrote.
The United States imposed human rights sanctions against de Moraes in late July in response to the justice’s extensive track record of censorship and human rights abuses against conservative voices in Brazil and the ongoing political persecution against Jair Bolsonaro.
This week, STF Justice Flávio Dino issued a ruling forbidding Brazilian entities from complying with foreign judicial or executive orders — a measure that effectively prohibits Brazilian banks from complying with the U.S. sanctions against de Moraes by closing the Justice’s accounts.
De Moraes told Reuters on Thursday that he is “confident” that President Donald Trump will reverse sanctions against him, claiming that the measures “lack consensus within the U.S. government.” De Moraes also reiterated that Brazilian banks may be “punished” if they comply with U.S. sanctions on Brazilian territory.
“A judicial challenge is possible and I have not yet found a U.S. or Brazilian lawyer or scholar who doubts the courts would overturn. But at this moment, I’ve chosen to wait. That’s my choice. It’s a diplomatic matter for the country,” de Moraes said.
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