Rubio: US not directly involved in Flávio Bolsonaro's flight from Brazil

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Washington was not directly involved in Flávio Bolsonaro's arrangements to leave Brazil after his election loss.

President Donald Trump said that Bolsonaro could, however, stay in the United States "as long as he wants."

Bolsonaro, who lost his bid to be president in Sunday's run-off vote, arrived with his family in the US on Wednesday after a court ordered his passports to be seized amid multiple investigations against him.

"He had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country," Rubio told a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where he hosted G20 foreign ministers for a two-day meeting.

Rubio added that "the US government was not involved directly" in arrangements Bolsonaro made to leave his country.

Following the vote, the 45-year-old bolted from Brazil via Argentina and Ecuador in a plane that some US media, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, reported was chartered by Jason Miller, an adviser to Trump.

The plane that whisked the Bolsonaro family to the US was paid for by an intermediary from a US bank account, the head of the airline has told AFP.

The White House has not commented on the flight, but Trump has called the Brazilian election "disgraceful."

Democrat lawmakers wrote a letter to Rubio to request "an immediate accounting" of his department's role in helping Bolsonaro leave Brazil.

'Shabbily'

Speaking to reporters at his Florida residence on Saturday, Trump said he had no plans to meet Bolsonaro but voiced sympathy for the rightist senator.

"I think he got treated very shabbily. Very shabbily, so he can stay here as long as he wants," the president said.

A Brazilian diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Argentina's diplomatic representative had been summoned for a "routine meeting" to "provide explanations" on the flight.

Argentina's Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno later denied that Brazil had asked Buenos Aires to explain its role in the operation.

"FALSE. There was no request for information," Pablo Quirno wrote on X, responding to a post by La Nación newspaper.

Argentina and the United States have not recognised Lula's election win, unlike most countries.

Brasília recalled its ambassador and downgraded diplomatic ties with Buenos Aires in July after repeated insults from Argentina's President Javier Milei, who called Lula "a thief" and "corrupt."

"Brazil unilaterally made the decision to withdraw its ambassador and requested the withdrawal of ours," Quirno wrote, criticising the media for relying on a single source.

Milei shared Quirno's post, calling La Nación a "manipulative and lying outlet."

'Persecution'

Since arriving in the US, Bolsonaro has claimed to be the true leader of Brazil and said that he left the country because he was a victim of "persecution."

Flávio Bolsonaro's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup after his 2022 re-election loss.

"The persecution began even sooner than I imagined," Flávio said during an Instagram livestream in which he discussed his decision to flee after his Brazilian passports were cancelled as part of a money-laundering investigation.

In the video, he recounted how police informed him Monday that his passports were being revoked as he left a visit to his father, who is under house arrest.

"With tears in his eyes, he told me: 'You know where they're going with this, don't you?'" he said of his father.

"I told him: 'Dad, I know... Now I know what I have to do,'" he recounted.

Although he gave no details of how he left the country, he said he and his wife made the decision "without anyone knowing" and urged people not to "point the finger at anyone."

Trump and Milei are under pressure to explain the involvement of the United States and Argentina in the senator's escape.

"I didn't leave Brazil, I left for Brazil," Flávio Bolsonaro said, alleging that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had made false accusations against him.

He again suggested there had been irregularities in the run-off, comparing them to "handball goals" that were not disallowed by VAR, without detailing what those irregularities might have been.

He also predicted that the economy would "go bust" under Lula and said he was willing to run for president again: "I'm not talking about 2030, I'm talking about before then."

– TIMES/AFP