Brazil court orders raids, ankle monitor on Bolsonaro for colluding with Trump
Ex-Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro speaks during a press conference in front of the Federal Senate in Brasilia, Brazil, on July 17, 2025.
BRASILIA - Brazil's Supreme Court issued search warrants and restraining orders against former President Jair Bolsonaro on July 18, banning him from contacting foreign officials for allegedly courting the interference of US President Donald Trump.
Federal police raided Bolsonaro's home and he was ordered to wear an ankle monitor, adding to legal pressure that Mr Trump has tried to relieve with a steep tariff on Brazilian goods.
The court's crackdown on Bolsonaro added to signs that Mr Trump's tactics could backfire in Brazil, compounding trouble for his ideological ally and rallying public support behind a defiant leftist government.
Bolsonaro was also banned from contacting foreign officials, using social media and approaching embassies, according to the decision issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who cited a 'concrete possibility' of him fleeing the country.
He added that Bolsonaro had asked the 'head of state of a foreign nation' to interfere in the Brazilian courts, which he characterised as an attack on national sovereignty.
Bolsonaro is on trial before Brazil's Supreme Court on charges of plotting a coup to stop his rival President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023.
Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022 and calls the case against him a political persecution, told reporters on July 18 that he never considered fleeing Brazil. He said the latest court orders were meant for his 'supreme humiliation.'
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Mr Trump has in recent weeks pressed Brazil to stop the legal case against Bolsonaro, saying that his former ally was the victim of a 'witch hunt'. The US president said last week he would
impose a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian goods from Aug 1, in a letter opening with criticism of the Bolsonaro trial.
Federal police are seen in front the house of the former president Jair Bolsonaro on July 18, 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Trump on July 17 shared on Truth Social a letter he sent to Bolsonaro. 'I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you. This trial should end immediately!' he wrote.
Mr Moraes wrote in his decision that the higher tariffs threatened by Mr Trump were aimed at creating a serious economic crisis in Brazil to interfere in the country's judiciary.
Bolsonaro was also prohibited from contacting key allies including his son Eduardo, a Brazilian congressman who has been lobbying in Washington to help his father.
The decision from Mr Moraes said the former president and his son had acted illegally 'to subject the functioning of the Supreme Court to the scrutiny of a foreign state, through hostile acts resulting from spurious and criminal negotiations to obstruct justice and coerce this court.'
A five-judge panel of Brazil's Supreme Court is set to review Mr Moraes' orders on July 18 and decide whether to uphold them. REUTERS
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