Carrie Khan
Appearances
Up First from NPR
Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
They're stunning charges. The standout points, prosecutors say that Bolsonaro and 33 others, they said it was this vast criminal organization to keep him in power after he narrowly lost to the current president, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva. On top of that, there was also this outline to poison Lula, kill his vice president and a Supreme Court justice who Bolsonaro has feuded with.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
The idea was to create this constitutional crisis and then the military would have to take over to calm any unrest and Bolsonaro would be reinstated. Investigators say they even found a speech that Bolsonaro was to give once he was back in power. In the indictment, the prosecutor said that, quote, the plan was conceived and taken with the knowledge of the president and he agreed to it.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
He's always, always denied them. His defense did release a statement saying that the former president never, ever supported any movement to deconstruct the democratic rule of law in any way and called the charges inept.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
In a statement to The New York Times, Bolsonaro went further, saying the accusations are, quote, a weaponization of the justice system and jailing him is a desperate attempt to criminalize his political movement. and silence millions of Brazilians.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
And if you're thinking the comparisons between Bolsonaro's case is similar to President Trump's false claims of the 2020 election being stolen from him, Bolsonaro did that himself. He said the legal fight against him is just like the same strategy used against President Trump, which he pointed out failed.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
The two men were close allies when Bolsonaro was in power and supporters of Bolsonaro have been emboldened by Trump's return to power. They've been saying that the U.S. president is even going to help them bring Bolsonaro back. He's been barred from running for office for at least eight years.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
His supporters in Congress are trying to get a bill through to grant pardons to Bolsonaro supporters who rioted the Capitol on January 8th of 2023. And they say they will get Trump's support. They're hoping the bill will also apply to Bolsonaro. The Supreme Court here, however, has been one of the key institutions aggressively ruling against Bolsonaro and his right-wing movement.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
They've been overseeing investigations, even ordering the removal of social media posts that they say are anti-democratic.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
Yes, they were. This has been a very lengthy investigation. Late last year, we got a glimpse of the evidence against Bolsonaro when police turned over their investigation to the Attorney General Prosecutor's Office. That report was nearly 900 pages long. It's based on testimonies, phone records, and also plea deals with close allies of Bolsonaro.
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Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
Bolsonaro's running mate, also charged in the case, has been in custody as well as other close confidants of his. And there are also hundreds of cases against the rioters who were charged and tried for ransacking the Capitol on January 8th.
Up First from NPR
Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
It's now up to the Supreme Court. They will decide whether they will arrest Bolsonaro and put him on trial. You know, such a trial like that could start this year, and it would definitely be an explosive political event in this deeply divided country.
Up First from NPR
Measles Outbreak, Foreign Aid Cuts, Bolsonaro Charges
And if convicted of the charges, which are quite serious, Bolsonaro's sentence could be anywhere from 12 years to as much as four decades to even prison.