Trump urges Brazil to spare its former president over attempted coup
Former President Jair Bolsonaro addresses the crowd during a protest against his Supreme Court trial, in which he is accused of involvement in a 2022 coup attempt, in Sao Paulo on June 29, 2025. | Ettore Chiereguini/AP
By Gregory Svirnovskiy
07/07/2025 01:02 PM EDT
President Donald Trump is coming to the defense of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro as he faces a trial for his role in trying to overturn the results of his country's 2022 election.
Bolsonaro is accused of participating in a plot to prevent the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the presidency of the largest nation in South America, an attempt that echoed Trump's own earlier efforts to stay in office despite losing an election.
'Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro,' Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. 'I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year! He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE.'
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