Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied Saturday that the Trump administration helped Flávio Bolsonaro leave Brazil after his presidential defeat to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Speaking in Atlanta at a gathering of top Group of 20 diplomats, Rubio said the U.S. government was not directly involved in any of Bolsonaro's moves.
We had word that he had arrived in the United States. He had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country
Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state
Bolsonaro landed in Miami on Wednesday, one day after the State Department said he and his family would receive U.S. visas.
Legal trouble at home
He left behind legal trouble. Bolsonaro, 45, is under investigation in Brazil for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, and he had been ordered to give up his passport after police judged him a flight risk.
He has refused to concede and has called the election fraudulent without offering evidence. In a letter Wednesday, he declared himself Brazil's true president-elect, later softening the title to leader, and likened himself to Charles de Gaulle, among others. On Instagram on Friday, he again said he is being persecuted.
Bolsonaro had President Donald Trump's tacit support in the race. His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, also refused to accept defeat to Lula, in 2022, and is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup.
What comes next
The younger Bolsonaro, a senator from Rio de Janeiro, will lose his seat when Brazil's new legislature convenes Feb. 1.
Rubio said he saw Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira in Atlanta on both Friday and Saturday and expects to meet Brazilian officials again in November at a foreign ministers' gathering in France.
