Moro’s testimony in the FP against Bolsonaro amid protests and polarized expectations

Amid protests and acts of support, former Minister Sergio Moro (Justice and Public Security) testified this Saturday (2) in Curitiba for almost nine hours before the Federal Police about the accusations he made against the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro .

According to the former assistant, the agent tried to interfere with the investigations and to have illegal access to them. Bolsonaro denies having committed any crime.

The content of Moro’s testimony, given between 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. federal police officers accompanied by federal prosecutors as part of an investigation that is being processed in the Supreme Federal Court (STF), has not yet been officially released.

The newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo stated that the WhatsApp texts and audios of Moro and his assistants were delivered to the courts, but without informing the content of these conversations.

The testimony in the Superintendency of the Federal Police attracted protesters in favor of Moro and opposed the former minister. A pro-Bolsonaro group burned T-shirts with images of Moro and tried to interrupt the journalists’ work. Supporters of the former minister praised Lava Jato and the break with the Bolsonaro government.

• The possible legal implications of Moro’s accusations against Bolsonaro

Hours before the hearing, Bolsonaro called the former Judas assistant in a text on Twitter that accompanies a video about the assassination attempt he suffered during the 2018 elections: “Are the directors in Brasilia? Judas, who will testify today, interfered not to investigate? I will not do anything that is not in accordance with the Constitution. But neither do I admit that they do it against ME and that our Brazil goes through the same “.

Bolsonaro previously told his supporters in Brasilia, referring to the investigation involving Moro, that “no one is going to do anything contrary to the Constitution.” No one will want to hit me, no, you can be sure. “

Moro was heard as part of an open investigation at the request of the Attorney General, Augusto Aras. He pointed out in the request for authorization to the STF, which was subsequently granted, the need to investigate possible crimes of “ideological falsehood, coercion in the course of the process, administrative defense, embezzlement, obstruction of justice, privileged passive corruption, slanderous denunciation and crime against honor “, which may have been committed by Bolsonaro or Moro, if the complaint is not true. Both are investigated.

If it is proven that the President committed a common crime in the exercise of his office, Aras can report it to the STF. However, the Constitution establishes that the Supreme Court can only proceed with the authorization of two thirds of the Chamber of Deputies.

If this occurs and the STF decides to receive the complaint, the President is suspended from office for up to 180 days while the trial is in progress. If convicted, he loses his job, just as he does at the end of impeachment proceedings.

Moro exit

Moro, who gained national prominence as first instance judge of Lava Jato in Paraná, assumed the position in the Bolsonaro government with great popularity and prominence, in addition to the promise of “carte blanche” and “super administration” status, in the portfolio that united Justice and Public Security.

However, after approximately a year and a half of government, he took advantage of the decreases in the rates of violence and the accumulated setbacks, defeats and controversies, such as the leak of messages exchanged with Lava Jato’s lawyers, the loss of control of his ministry on the former Coaf (Council for the Control of Financial Activities), and the dehydration of its package against crime, in the course of the government.

In his exit speech, the former minister justified his departure by citing the dismissal of the PF director general, Maurício Valeixo, and mentioned several times the need for autonomy to carry out his duties and the promised carte blanche.

Moro said he only found out about the exoneration through the Official Gazette and criticized the decision to change Valeixo. He said he told the president that such a move would only be acceptable if there was “poor performance” by the director, but that it did not happen.

https://twitter.com/SF_Moro/status/1253793469627326464

The minister added that there would also be plans to exchange superintendents in the states, in addition to Valeixo.

“Yesterday, I spoke to the president and there was this insistence from the president. I told him it would be political interference and he said it would be,” he said.

Moro reported that the president said “more than once, that he wanted to have a contact person whom he could call, who could gather information, collect intelligence reports,” and commented that it is not appropriate for the president to have direct access to that type. of information

The President denied having committed any crime. “I want a delegate, with whom I feel I can interact. Why not? I interact with the intelligence men of the Armed Forces, I interacted with Abin. (…) I never asked him to proceed with any process. Especially since, with him, intelligence lost space in the courts. “

He also said that Bolsonaro expressed concern about the handling of consultations at the STF. There are already two ongoing investigations in the Court with the potential to reach the presidential family: one investigates groups that spread false news on social networks and the other investigates the call to undemocratic acts carried out on Sunday (04/19) by the country .

The same day he resigned, Moro sent excerpts from a conversation with Bolsonaro to Jornal Nacional, on TV Globo. In the image, the president sends a link to a report that the FP is “in the queue” for 10-12 Bolsonar deputies. “Another reason for the exchange,” Bolsonaro said, referring to the change in the direction of the institution.

Bolsonaro’s reaction

A few hours after Moro’s accusatory speech, the President of the Republic defended himself against the accusations in a statement by almost all his ministers.

The president accused Moro of conditioning the exchange in the PF to the vacancy in the STF (Federal Supreme Court). “More than once, Moro told me, ‘You can change Valeixo, yes, but in November, after you refer me to the Federal Supreme Court.’ Sorry, but it’s not there.”

The former minister denied the accusation on his official Twitter account and later also sent excerpts from a conversation with federal deputy Carla Zambelli to Jornal Nacional, who was with Bolsonaro in his speech.

In the messages, the parliamentarian proposes to the then minister to remain in office in exchange for the appointment to the Supreme Court and offers to convince the president to accept a negotiation in these terms. In conversation, he declines the offer.

Bolsonaro also said he did not have to ask for authorization to change the director of the corporation. “I do not have to ask for authorization to change a director or any other who is in the hierarchical pyramid of the Executive,” he said.

“The day I have to submit to a subordinate, I am no longer President of the Republic,” he added. “(Moro) was reluctant and said: ‘but the name has to be mine.’ Let’s talk. Why does it have to be yours and not possibly mine? And I reminded him that the nomination is mine. The prerogative is mine. I want a delegate, with whom I feel I can interact. Why not? I interact with the intelligence men of the Armed Forces, I interacted with Abin. (…) I never asked him to proceed with any process. Especially since, with this, the intelligence lost space in the courts. “

The official also criticized the role of the PF in the investigation of the attack that it suffered.

“Sergio Moro’s PF was more concerned with who killed Marielle (Franco) than with who tried to kill their overlord. I covered them a lot, I interfered. (…) Is it necessary to implore Moro to find out who ordered the murder of Jair Bolsonaro? “

Bolsonaro also declared in his speech that Moro “has a commitment to himself, to his ego and not to Brazil” and that is why he is looking for “a way to put a gap between me and the Brazilian people”.

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