Conservative former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday that he is “passionate” about President Donald Trump, who treated him “like a brother” when he was president of the South American country.
Bolsonaro, a staunch supporter and longtime ally of President Trump, spoke with the Brazilian outlet Poder 360 on Tuesday evening for over an hour, marking his first public appearance since Prosecutor General of Brazil Paulo Gonet called on Monday for Bolsonaro’s conviction in the ongoing “coup” trial against him.
The former Brazilian president and Poder 360 conversed on several topics, such as the ongoing trial, his friendship with President Trump, the 50-percent tariffs on Brazilian goods entering the U.S., and Brazil’s electoral panorama ahead of the 2026 presidential elections. The interview was broadcast live on YouTube.
“I am passionate about him [Trump], about the American people, about American politics, about the country that is the United States. I have never denied that since I was a boy. Trump always knew that. He treated me like a brother,” Bolsonaro said.
“I am deeply grateful to him. We had an excellent relationship. We made plans. … We made many plans for Brazil in the area of minerals,” he continued.
Bolsonaro served as president of Brazil for one term between 2019 and 2022, narrowly losing against radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the controversial 2022 election. Bolsonaro has never been shy of expressing his support of Trump and the MAGA movement throughout the years, going as far as to wear Trump’s iconic red MAGA hat and dance in celebration of Trump’s November 2024 electoral victory. U.S. flags and Trump-related imagery are sometimes seen at Bolsonaro’s rallies across Brazil.
Bolsonaro stands accused by Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) of allegedly conspiring with over 30 other individuals to poison Lula, stage a “coup,” and overturn the results of the 2022 election. Bolsonaro has denied the accusations and maintained that he is innocent. At press time, Bolsonaro’s legal defense team has two weeks to present their closing arguments to the court.
The ongoing trial is but one out of a large list of judicial proceedings and criminal investigations launched against Bolsonaro and his family after he left office in January 2023 led by STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who in 2023 ruled alongside other Justices to ban Bolsonaro from running for public office until 2030.
As part of the initial investigations that led to the coup trial, Bolsonaro had his passport seized in February 2024, effectively banning him from leaving the country. Bolsonaro requested his passport be temporarily returned to him to be able to attend President Trump’s inauguration on January 20. De Moraes denied the request. One of Bolsonaro’s sons, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, requested U.S. asylum in March arguing that he is the target of a persecution campaign led by de Moraes.
Last week, President Trump published a message on his website Truth Social expressing his support of Bolsonaro and condemning the actions committed by the Brazilian judiciary against the former president. Hours later, Trump cited the “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro as one of the reasons for the imposition of a 50-percent tariff on Brazilian goods, which will go into effect on August 1.
Bolsonaro told Poder 360 that he is against the upcoming tariff, stressing that although he has no influence on the decision he “could help resolve” the impasse between the two countries if he were free to talk directly with President Trump.
“I am against it, I would be against the tariff hike. My son Eduardo would be against it, too. But we have a more serious problem, if Brazil continues to move to the left, with Lula talking nonsense all the time, this reckless man, provoking the United States.
“This 50-percent tariff could be reduced,” Bolsonaro said. “I think I have the power to resolve this issue—part of it—but I have to have the freedom to talk to Trump. At the moment, I don’t even have a passport.”
According to the left-wing Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, the pro-Bolsonaro governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, recently requested the STF to allow Bolsonaro to travel to the United States in the company of a group of Brazilian lawmakers to speak with Trump with the hopes of reaching an agreement that could lead to a reduction in the 50-percent tariff. The top court rejected the request, reportedly deeming it “completely out of place,” and stressed that there should be respect for the institutions whose mission is to negotiate with other countries, such as the Brazilian presidency and Foreign Ministry.
Bolsonaro reiterated to Poder 360 that he has no intention of leaving Brazil, an assertion he first made to Folha during an interview in March in which he ruled out the possibility of seeking asylum in the United States like his son Eduardo Bolsonaro has.
“I am 70 years old and have many health problems. How can I go to another country?” Bolsonaro said on Tuesday.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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