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Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro has left the country for the U.S. after having lost Sunday’s presidential election and refused to comply with a Supreme Court order to hand over his passports, two sources said.
The State Department will issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the U.S., a senior State Department official confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday afternoon.
Bolsonaro’s lawyer also declined to comment.
Bolsonaro was favored to win Sunday’s presidential election but ended up losing in a shock result to leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On Monday, he was given 24 hours to hand in his passports as part of a money-laundering investigation in which he denies wrongdoing, but that deadline has lapsed, two other sources said, leading to his documents being canceled.
Flávio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, also went to the U.S. after he refused to concede to Lula in 2022.
He eventually returned to Brazil but was later given a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup. His son has yet to officially concede defeat — saying on Sunday he would seek the annulment of the result over alleged voter irregularities — but his Liberal Party said on Monday it acknowledged Lula’s victory.
A senior Brazilian Federal Police official said Bolsonaro has not exited the country via any regular migration point.
Right-wing influencer Paulo Figueiredo, who serves as a sort of unofficial spokesperson for the Bolsonaro family, declined to answer questions about Bolsonaro’s whereabouts.
“After months of intense work that has been unfairly thwarted, I am not in the mood to speak to the press,” he said in a message. “If I have any comments to make on any matter, I will get in touch.”
Eduardo Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro’s younger brother who lives in the United States, said ahead of the vote that an election loss would require a move.
“If my brother does not win, I’m in favor that he would leave the country,” he told podcaster Steven Crowder this month.
Reuters
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