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In the investigation against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro into allegations of political interference, a video recording appeared to have incriminated the president.
During a cabinet meeting last month, Bolsonaro said, according to the Reuters news agency, that he needed to change the head of the Rio de Janeiro federal police to protect relatives who were under investigation. Reuters discovered this from a person familiar with the video.
The admission was presented to investigators who dealt with the allegations of former Justice Minister Sérgio Moro. Moro resigned two days after that cabinet meeting in April and accused Bolsonaro of interfering in law enforcement for personal reasons.
Bolsonaro had previously fired the chief of the federal police, Mauricio Valeixo. Moro’s attorneys said the video “fully confirms” the allegations against the president.
Bolsonaro says he is not worried
Bolsonaro emphasized that he was not concerned about the Supreme Court investigation and said that the federal police had never investigated his family. According to Reuters, Bolsonaro stated that the word “federal police” could not be heard on the recording in question, but believed that the video should have been destroyed.
After transcribing the video and interviewing the ministers involved, the Attorney General will decide whether to act against Bolsonaro for abuse of power and obstruction of the judiciary. In the event that the Supreme Court and two thirds of the House of Commons see substantiated evidence of guilt, the President would be removed from office and the Supreme Court would sue.
Bolsonaro has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks. The corona virus has already killed more than 11,000 people in Brazil. Bolsonaro played down the virus as a “mild flu” in the first weeks of the pandemic. A few weeks ago, Bolsonaro fired his health minister over disputes over how to deal with the crisis.
