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US President Donald Trump has urged Brazilian authorities to end their prosecution of the country’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, accusing them of carrying out a “WITCH HUNT”.
His comments drew a swift rebuke from current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who said Brazil would not accept “interference” from anyone and added: “No one is above the law.”
Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022, is standing trial for allegedly attempting a coup against Lula following his election victory in 2021.
The former leader has denied involvement in any alleged plot.
In a social media post, Trump said Bolsonaro was “not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE” and told prosecutors to “LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!”
He praised Bolsonaro as a “strong leader” who “truly loved his country”.
The US president compared Bolsonaro’s prosecution to the legal cases he himself faced between his two presidential terms.
“This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent – Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10,” Trump said.
Bolsonaro thanked Trump for his comments, describing the case against him as “clear political persecution” in a social media post.
But President Lula hit back at the US leader, saying “the defence of democracy in Brazil is a matter for Brazilians. We are a sovereign nation.
“We won’t accept interference or instruction from anyone. We have solid and independent institutions. No one is above the law. Especially those who attack freedom and the rule of law.”
Brazilian Minister of Institutional Affairs Gleisi Hoffmann also criticised Trump: “The time when Brazil was subservient to the US was the time of Bolsonaro.”
“The US president should take care of his own problems, which are not few, an respect the sovereignty of Brazil and our judiciary,” she added.
The back and fourth comes as Lula hosted representatives from China, Russia and other nations at a Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Trump had earlier threatened to levy additional tariffs against countries aligned with what he called the bloc’s “anti-American” policies.
Trump and Bolsonaro enjoyed a friendly relationship when their presidencies overlapped, with the pair meeting at the White House in 2019.
Both men subsequently lost presidential elections and both refused to publicly acknowledge defeat.
A week after Lula’s inauguration in January 2023, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in the capital, Brasilia, in what federal investigators say was an attempted coup.
Bolsonaro was in the United States at the time and has always denied any links to the rioters.
He has been barred from running for public office until 2030 for falsely claiming Brazil’s voting system was vulnerable to fraud, but he has said he intends to fight that ban and run for a second term in 2026.
Speaking in court for the first time last month, Bolsonaro said a coup was an “abominable thing”. The 70-year-old could face decades in prison if convicted.
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