SHANNON K. CRAWFORD
Mon, January 9, 2023
In the wake of a violent uprising on Sunday by supporters of Brazil's far-right former president, President Joe Biden on Monday spoke with the nation's newly inaugurated leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and extended an invitation to visit the White House.
"President Biden conveyed the unwavering support of the United States for Brazil's democracy and for the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil's recent presidential election, which President Lula won. President Biden condemned the violence and the attack on democratic institutions and on the peaceful transfer of power," read a joint statement released by both Biden and the Brazilian president, who is commonly known as Lula.
The statement added that da Silva accepted the invitation to "visit Washington in early February for in-depth consultations on a wide-ranging shared agenda."
Sunday's attack on three of Brazil's seats of power -- its Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential office, called the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia -- was also condemned in a joint statement issued by Biden, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who convened in Mexico City on Monday for the North American leaders' summit.
"We stand with Brazil as it safeguards its democratic institutions. Our governments support the free will of the people of Brazil," they declared. "We look forward to working with President Lula on delivering for our countries, the Western Hemisphere, and beyond."
The scenes from Brasilia on Sunday, of rioters overtaking government buildings while calling for a newly elected president's removal, echo the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
PHOTO: President Joe Biden meets his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at an official welcoming ceremony before taking part in the North American Leaders' Summit at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico January 9, 2023. (Henry Romero/Reuters)
In responding to the turmoil in Brazil, Biden also confronts another conundrum created by da Silva's predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently staying in the U.S.
Bolsonaro had flown to Florida at the end of December, days before da Silva was inaugurated. Dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics," the populist ex-president refused to accept the results of Brazil's election when he was voted out in October and spread unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
While Bolsonaro condemned the "depredations and invasions of public buildings" in a tweet on Sunday after the violent rioting, da Silva and others accused him of implicitly spurring on his supporters with false allegations about a stolen election.
MORE: Jair Bolsonaro admitted to US hospital as Biden condemns 'outrageous' attack on Brazilian government
Some Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. were quick to call for Bolsonaro's removal.
"Nearly 2 years to the day the US Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil," New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida."
"He's a dangerous man. They should send him back to his home country, Brazil," Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas urged during a televised interview.
PHOTO: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a meeting with Governors at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on January 9, 2023. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden White House's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Monday that the Biden administration had not received any request from Brazil's government to extradite Bolsonaro but that "if we did receive such requests, we treat them the way we always do -- we treat them seriously."
While the U.S. and Brazil have an extradition treaty in place, it stipulates that the individual must be formally accused of an offense that is considered a crime in both countries. Bolsonaro is the subject of several investigations, but Brazilian authorities have not filed any charges against him.
MORE: House Republicans propose sweeping committee to review government's criminal investigations
Separately, if the Biden administration wanted to expel Bolsonaro from the country, it could revoke his visa without any legal justification. While that would be an extraordinary move, John Feeley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Panama when the country's former president attempted to avoid corruption charges by fleeing to Florida, said it likely wouldn't be met by significant backlash on the international stage.
"I think one of the possible silver linings out of this whole episode is that there has been universal condemnation from Latin American governments," Feeley said. "There has been literally no government that has supported Bolsonaro. There have been some that have been quiet, but most have made very strong statements."
PHOTO: Protesters, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, clash with police during a protest outside the Planalto Palace building in Brasilia, Brazil, Jan. 8, 2023. (Eraldo Peres/AP)
While individual visa cases are confidential, State Department spokesperson Ned Price seemed to suggest that Bolsonaro -- who is believed to have entered the U.S. on a diplomatic visa as Brazil's head of state -- would have a grace period of 30 days to either exit the country or request a change to his immigration status before facing consequences.
The former Brazilian president was admitted to an Orlando-area hospital on Monday afternoon for abdominal pain resulting from a stabbing he endured on the campaign trail in 2018, his wife announced via Instagram.
ABC News' Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
Mon, January 9, 2023
In the wake of a violent uprising on Sunday by supporters of Brazil's far-right former president, President Joe Biden on Monday spoke with the nation's newly inaugurated leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and extended an invitation to visit the White House.
"President Biden conveyed the unwavering support of the United States for Brazil's democracy and for the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil's recent presidential election, which President Lula won. President Biden condemned the violence and the attack on democratic institutions and on the peaceful transfer of power," read a joint statement released by both Biden and the Brazilian president, who is commonly known as Lula.
The statement added that da Silva accepted the invitation to "visit Washington in early February for in-depth consultations on a wide-ranging shared agenda."
Sunday's attack on three of Brazil's seats of power -- its Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential office, called the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia -- was also condemned in a joint statement issued by Biden, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who convened in Mexico City on Monday for the North American leaders' summit.
"We stand with Brazil as it safeguards its democratic institutions. Our governments support the free will of the people of Brazil," they declared. "We look forward to working with President Lula on delivering for our countries, the Western Hemisphere, and beyond."
The scenes from Brasilia on Sunday, of rioters overtaking government buildings while calling for a newly elected president's removal, echo the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
PHOTO: President Joe Biden meets his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at an official welcoming ceremony before taking part in the North American Leaders' Summit at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico January 9, 2023. (Henry Romero/Reuters)
In responding to the turmoil in Brazil, Biden also confronts another conundrum created by da Silva's predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently staying in the U.S.
Bolsonaro had flown to Florida at the end of December, days before da Silva was inaugurated. Dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics," the populist ex-president refused to accept the results of Brazil's election when he was voted out in October and spread unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
While Bolsonaro condemned the "depredations and invasions of public buildings" in a tweet on Sunday after the violent rioting, da Silva and others accused him of implicitly spurring on his supporters with false allegations about a stolen election.
MORE: Jair Bolsonaro admitted to US hospital as Biden condemns 'outrageous' attack on Brazilian government
Some Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. were quick to call for Bolsonaro's removal.
"Nearly 2 years to the day the US Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil," New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida."
"He's a dangerous man. They should send him back to his home country, Brazil," Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas urged during a televised interview.
PHOTO: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a meeting with Governors at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on January 9, 2023. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden White House's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Monday that the Biden administration had not received any request from Brazil's government to extradite Bolsonaro but that "if we did receive such requests, we treat them the way we always do -- we treat them seriously."
While the U.S. and Brazil have an extradition treaty in place, it stipulates that the individual must be formally accused of an offense that is considered a crime in both countries. Bolsonaro is the subject of several investigations, but Brazilian authorities have not filed any charges against him.
MORE: House Republicans propose sweeping committee to review government's criminal investigations
Separately, if the Biden administration wanted to expel Bolsonaro from the country, it could revoke his visa without any legal justification. While that would be an extraordinary move, John Feeley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Panama when the country's former president attempted to avoid corruption charges by fleeing to Florida, said it likely wouldn't be met by significant backlash on the international stage.
"I think one of the possible silver linings out of this whole episode is that there has been universal condemnation from Latin American governments," Feeley said. "There has been literally no government that has supported Bolsonaro. There have been some that have been quiet, but most have made very strong statements."
PHOTO: Protesters, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, clash with police during a protest outside the Planalto Palace building in Brasilia, Brazil, Jan. 8, 2023. (Eraldo Peres/AP)
While individual visa cases are confidential, State Department spokesperson Ned Price seemed to suggest that Bolsonaro -- who is believed to have entered the U.S. on a diplomatic visa as Brazil's head of state -- would have a grace period of 30 days to either exit the country or request a change to his immigration status before facing consequences.
The former Brazilian president was admitted to an Orlando-area hospital on Monday afternoon for abdominal pain resulting from a stabbing he endured on the campaign trail in 2018, his wife announced via Instagram.
ABC News' Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
Tucker Cheers on Brazilian Insurrection and Repeats ‘Rigged’ Election Lies.png)
William Vaillancourt
Mon, January 9, 2023
Tucker Carlson reacted sympathetically to rolling anti-government riots Sunday in Brazil’s capital, claiming—without any evidence—that voters ousted far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro in what was “very clearly a rigged election.”
Instead of offering information to back up any of the widely debunked claims of fraud, the Fox host simply assured viewers that “millions of people in Brazil understand exactly what happened. They know that their democracy has been hijacked, possibly forever.”
Pro-Bolsonaro protesters, Carlson continued, “are angry because the new Lula government has eliminated their most basic civil liberties. Lula is working to turn Brazil into a Chinese-style dictatorship”—again, offering little evidence for the sweeping claims.
In addition, Carlson did not follow up when his guest, journalist Matthew Tyrmand, asserted that “there were many an agent provocateur” causing damage at the riots and made the stunning claim that “it looks like this is turning into a Reichstag fire,” in reference to the 1933 arson at the German parliament that Nazi leaders exploited to further their rule.
After rioters made their way into Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace, authorities made at least 400 arrests as of early Sunday evening. “There is no precedent in the history of the country [for] what they did today,” current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on Twitter in response. “For that they must be punished.”
Bolsonaro, an ally of Donald Trump, fretted to Carlson in an interview just last summer that if he were to lose reelection, the left would remain in power permanently.
After Bolsonaro refused to acknowledge his loss in October, he arrived in the U.S. earlier this month and has reportedly been living in the Florida home of an MMA fighter, perhaps to avoid corruption charges in Brazil.
Over the weekend, he was admitted to an Orlando-area hospital over “abdominal pain”—but posted Monday evening that he had since been discharged.
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William Vaillancourt
Mon, January 9, 2023
Tucker Carlson reacted sympathetically to rolling anti-government riots Sunday in Brazil’s capital, claiming—without any evidence—that voters ousted far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro in what was “very clearly a rigged election.”
Instead of offering information to back up any of the widely debunked claims of fraud, the Fox host simply assured viewers that “millions of people in Brazil understand exactly what happened. They know that their democracy has been hijacked, possibly forever.”
Pro-Bolsonaro protesters, Carlson continued, “are angry because the new Lula government has eliminated their most basic civil liberties. Lula is working to turn Brazil into a Chinese-style dictatorship”—again, offering little evidence for the sweeping claims.
In addition, Carlson did not follow up when his guest, journalist Matthew Tyrmand, asserted that “there were many an agent provocateur” causing damage at the riots and made the stunning claim that “it looks like this is turning into a Reichstag fire,” in reference to the 1933 arson at the German parliament that Nazi leaders exploited to further their rule.
After rioters made their way into Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace, authorities made at least 400 arrests as of early Sunday evening. “There is no precedent in the history of the country [for] what they did today,” current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on Twitter in response. “For that they must be punished.”
Bolsonaro, an ally of Donald Trump, fretted to Carlson in an interview just last summer that if he were to lose reelection, the left would remain in power permanently.
After Bolsonaro refused to acknowledge his loss in October, he arrived in the U.S. earlier this month and has reportedly been living in the Florida home of an MMA fighter, perhaps to avoid corruption charges in Brazil.
Over the weekend, he was admitted to an Orlando-area hospital over “abdominal pain”—but posted Monday evening that he had since been discharged.
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