Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro published a letter on Thursday evening that he received from President Donald Trump expressing his support to the conservative leader and condemning the ongoing criminal trial against Bolsonaro for alleged “coup” activity.
The letter followed President Trump’s announcement this month that the United States would impose a 50-percent tariff on Brazil in response to the Marxist government’s growing list of violations against the free speech rights of conservatives, most prominently against Bolsonaro.
The Brazilian government, under corrupt leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, ordered a police raid of Bolsonaro’s home hours after the publication of the letter, detaining Bolsonaro on Friday and imposing several restrictions on his freedoms, including forcing him to wear a monitor anklet, banning him from leaving his home for most of the week and from accessing social media.
Closing arguments in Bolsonaro’s “coup” trial – in which he and a cohort of staffers and supporters are being charged with attempting to poison Lula and seize power after losing the 2022 presidential election – began this week. Prosecutors urged the nation’s top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), to convict Bolsonaro on five charges: armed organized crime; attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law; attempted coup d’état; qualified damage to federal property; and deterioration of listed property.
“I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you,” Trump wrote to Bolsonaro in the letter the former president published on Thursday. “This trial should end immediately! I am not surprised to see you leading in the polls; you were a highly respected and strong leader who served your country well.”
“I share your commitment to listening to the voice of the people and I am very concerned about the attacks on free speech – both in Brazil and in the United States – coming out of the current government,” Trump continued. “I have strongly voiced my disapproval both publicly and through our Tariff policy.”
“It is my sincere hope that the Government of Brazil changes course, stops attacking political opponents, and ends their ridiculous censorship regime. I will be watching closely,” Trump promised.
Bolsonaro published a video response to the letter offering thanks to the American president for his support, describing his “great joy” at receiving the personal letter and denying the allegations against him.
“I’m being judged for a coup d’etat carried out on a Sunday without troops, without weapons, while I was present in the United States – something completely unbelievable,” Bolsonaro said in the message. “A non-existent crime.”
Bolsonaro referred to the events of January 8, 2023, in which a mob of his supporters rioted in Brasilia, vandalizing the headquarters of the STF, the Brazilian Congress, and the presidential office. The riot did not result in any major injuries and no evidence suggests that it threatened Lula’s control over the presidency at any moment. The “coup” trial against him is in part based on accusations that Bolsonaro deliberately orchestrated the riot.
The former president, who has been banned from running for any public office for the next eight years, asserted in the video that the objective of the trial is to ban him from politics, not to seek justice.
“What they really want is to push me away from the political process, distance the greatest right-wing leadership in South America,” he said. “And I understand that elections without an opposition – that IS a coup. And I want to read here the last paragraph of your letter.”
On Friday morning, STF judge Alexandre de Moraes, a notorious “anti-fake news crusader” who has dramatically escalated repression of conservative ideas in Brazil, approved search and arrest warrants against Bolsonaro, allowing police to raid his home in Brasilia. Bolsonaro has been arrested and at press time is being processed and fitted with a monitoring anklet, according to Brazilian media.
Though Bolsonaro has not been convicted of any crime yet, de Moraes’ actions will impose several onerous restrictions on his freedom. In addition to wearing the ankle monitor, Bolsonaro is not allowed to leave his home between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., cannot have any contact with foreign diplomats of any kind, cannot speak to any individuals under STF investigation (including son Eduardo), and cannot approach any foreign embassies on Brazilian soil.
Brazilian federal police identified Bolsonaro as a flight risk – despite his voluntary return to Brasil in 2024 after Brazilian leftists began accusing him of plotting a failed coup – and of attempting to obstruct justice and attract undue foreign action.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers condemned the violent action against the former president, a 70-year-old with significant health complications as a result of a failed assassination attempt in 2018.
“The defense of former President Jair Bolsonaro received with surprise and indignation the news of the imposition of severe precautionary measures against him,” the attorneys said in a statement, “who to date has always complied with all the determinations of the Judiciary. The defense will manifest itself in due course, after knowing the court decision.”
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