What to know about the trial of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro
The case received renewed attention after President Donald Trump directly tied a 50% tariff on Brazilian imported goods to Bolsonaro's judicial situation, which Trump called a ' witch hunt.'
The Supreme Court's order for Bolsonaro to wear an ankle monitor, among other restrictions, came after Federal Police and prosecutors said Bolsonaro is a flight risk. Authorities, listing multiple social media posts, also accused Bolsonaro of working with his son Eduardo to incite the United States to interfere in the trial and impose sanctions against Brazilian officials.
On Friday, the U.S. State Department announced visa restrictions on Brazilian judicial officials, prompting President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva 's to condemn what he called the unacceptable interference of one country in another's justice system.
Here's what you need to know about Bolsonaro's trial:
The charges against Bolsonaro
The prosecution accuses Bolsonaro of leading an armed criminal organization, attempting to stage a coup and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, aggravated damage, and deterioration of listed heritage sites.
A federal police investigation placed Bolsonaro at the top of a criminal organization that had been active since at least 2021. Police say that after Bolsonaro's loss to Lula, the organization conspired to overturn the election result.
Part of that plot included a plan to kill Lula and a Supreme Court justice, the prosecution alleges. It also says that the Jan. 8 riot when Bolsonaro supporters ransacked top government buildings a week after Lula took office was an attempt to force military intervention and oust the new president.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet says Bolsonaro's actions 'were not limited to a passive stance of resistance to defeat, but were a conscious effort to create an environment conducive to violence and a coup.'
In the court order unsealed Friday, Justice Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro and his son may also have committed the crimes of coercion during a legal proceeding, obstruction of an investigation involving a criminal organization and attack on Brazil's sovereignty.
What Bolsonaro says
Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied the allegations and asserted that he's the target of political persecution. He has echoed Trump and called the trial a 'witch hunt.'
The far-right former leader has now been barred from using social media, but on Thursday, he said on X that 'those who challenge the system are being punished, silenced, and isolated.'
Regarding the restrictive measures carried out on Friday, Bolsonaro called them a 'supreme humiliation.'
'I never thought about leaving Brazil, I never thought about going to an embassy, but the precautionary measures are because of that,' he told journalists in Brasilia.
Next steps
After the prosecution called for a guilty verdict in its final allegations issued Tuesday, the defense will soon present its case, likely in the coming weeks.
The panel of Supreme Court justices that opened the trial against Bolsonaro will vote on whether to convict or acquit him. Experts say a decision is expected before the end of the year.
A guilty verdict on the coup plot charge carries a sentence of up to 12 years, which could, along with guilty verdicts on other charges, bring decades behind bars.
But Antonio José Teixeira Martins, a law professor at Rio de Janeiro State University, said Bolsonaro could be detained even before there's a verdict.
'Whether this happens or not depends on how events unfold from now on, that is if these new measures prove sufficient to guarantee public order, the application of criminal law and prevent the risk of escape,' Teixeira Martins said.
Brazil's top electoral court has already banned Bolsonaro from running in elections until 2030 over abuse of power while in office and casting unfounded doubts on the country's electronic voting system.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
30 minutes ago
- New York Post
Back in your lane, bureaucrats: ‘Endangerment' rollback restores sense to EPA
When Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, climate change wasn't on anyone's mind. Yet under an Obama-era decision known as the 'Endangerment Finding,' the Environmental Protection Agency has claimed authority under the act to micromanage large parts of the American economy in the name of combating global warming. President Donald Trump's proposal to reverse the finding returns the Clean Air Act to its original purpose, marking the end of a failed effort to control the climate through executive fiat. The Endangerment Finding stemmed from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required the EPA to determine whether carbon dioxide qualified as a dangerous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act. In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts warned that the decision 'ignores the complexities' of addressing global warming through the statute — but suggested its effects 'may be more symbolic than anything else.' He couldn't have been more wrong. In his first year in office, President Barack Obama sought to push a bipartisan climate bill through Congress — but when lawmakers failed to act on his terms, he turned to executive authority. In 2009, Obama's EPA responded to the high court's decision and declared that six greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, endanger public health and welfare — and therefore required regulation. Unfortunately, the structure of the Clean Air Act is not conducive to regulating CO2, because it's designed to regulate industry. Yet CO2 is not just emitted by factories and cars but by every human, frog, parakeet and muskrat, among other animals. The act required federal permits for any source that emitted more than 100 tons per year of an air pollutant. By this measure, some families would need permits just to maintain their households under the Endangerment Finding. Realizing that the law could sweep up hundreds of thousands of stores, apartments, hotels and other small establishments, the agency said it would regulate only sites emitting more than 100,000 tons of CO2 — a number it picked out of thin air. The EPA's attempts to use the act to regulate emissions unleashed endless litigation. In 2014, the Supreme Court overturned the 100,000-ton permit standard, which two justices called 'patently unreasonable.' In 2022, the Supreme Court said that the EPA's mandate to shut down a substantial part of the nation's coal-fired power plants and substitute them with gas and renewables also couldn't be squared with the act. One sticking point was that the Clean Air Act focused on regulating emissions through technological additions to cars and factories, such as smokestack scrubbers. But unlike other pollutants, there's no easy way to capture greenhouse gases: If you burn fossil fuels, the CO2 must go somewhere, and that generally means into the atmosphere. The only way to control most greenhouse gases is to mandate less use of fossil-fuel-derived energy. Such mandates were never the purpose or intention of the Clean Air Act. Absurd actions resulted. Cars and trucks are some of the main emitters of CO2, and they were the focus of the EPA's original finding. But no technologies exist to eliminate CO2 from gas-powered vehicles, so the EPA simply imposed stricter gas-mileage standards — even though Congress had already established a separate Transportation Department program to regulate fuel economy. The Biden administration went further, issuing rules under the finding that would require about two-thirds of new cars and trucks to be electric by 2032, an attempt to overhaul the entire American automobile fleet. The estimated costs surpassed $1 trillion, making them among the most expensive regulatory actions in history. And because the government also offered separate subsidies for electric vehicle purchases, the regulations stood to add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit — again, without any congressional approval. These regulatory contortions reveal the folly of using questionable statutory language, rather than clear congressional action, to make major decisions that reshape American society. Those who view climate change as an existential threat have a duty to persuade the public of that claim. If addressing climate change truly requires making sweeping changes to how we live, then advocates must build a broad-based coalition to pass laws mandating those changes — not bypass the democratic process through executive fiat. Trump's proposal to repeal the 2009 Endangerment Finding, detailed in over 300 pages by the EPA last week, will put a stop to regulations that swelled the deficit, raised prices and hurt consumers. It will also restore Congress' original understanding of the Clean Air Act, stop a flood of ineffective executive mandates — and make overreaching bureaucrats get back in their lane. Judge Glock is the director of research and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Adapted from City Journal.


The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Trump tariffs expected to hit Thursday
President Trump's new reciprocal tariff rates on dozens of trading partners are set to finally take effect on Thursday, as markets, businesses and consumers brace for a major shakeup of the global trade system. The president signed an executive order last Thursday that announced the new rates but bumped the start out a week. Once the new tariffs are implemented, the average tariff rate will be around 15 percent, compared to the roughly 2 percent rate in 2024. He had first announced the plan for reciprocal tariffs on April 2 but imposed a 90-day extension a week later, amid pressure from Wall Street and fellow Republicans to calm the ailing markets. The early July tariff deadline for the 90-day extension to expire was then extended until Aug. 1, with Thursday expected to be the final deadline. The executive order stated that all imports will face a 10 percent tariff. Some trading partners will face higher rates, including 41 percent on Syria, 19 percent on Indonesia and Thailand, and 15 percent on South Korea, Japan and the European Union. The order also includes Laos (40 percent), Switzerland (39 percent), Iraq (35 percent), South Africa (30 percent), India (25 percent), Algeria (30 percent), Moldova (25 percent) and Nicaragua (18 percent). Other trading partners will face higher tariffs because of a specific issue cited by Trump. He will hit Brazil with a 50 percent tariff, in part citing the country's prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro over his efforts to remain in power after losing an election, and he will hit Canada with a 35 percent tariff, citing frustrations with the flow of fentanyl across the U.S. border. Trump vowed to impose steep tariffs on the campaign trail, arguing that the U.S. has been ripped off by trading partners for too long and that high tariffs could lead to more domestic manufacturing. With tariffs finally expected, businesses and consumers alike are bracing for higher prices. What goods are exempt? If a good is already on a cargo ship and heading for the U.S., it is not subject to the tariff. Goods that are covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement signed in 2020 will also be exempt from tariffs on Canada and Mexico. The president also made rules around transshipment, including in the order that goods sent through a country that has a lower tariff rate compared to the country of origin, with the intent to evade applicable duties, will face a 40 percent tax. And, he ended the exception on de minimis goods, meaning that on Aug. 29, goods shipped with a commercial carrier worth $800 or less no longer can avoid import fees. What other tariffs are coming? Friday, meanwhile, marks Trump's deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face 'severe' tariffs. They are still expected, even after special mission envoy Steve Witkoff met Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump also threatened to slap a 100 percent 'secondary' tariff on countries that do business with the Kremlin, such as purchasing Russian oil and gas, which would target India. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to raise tariffs on India by an additional 25 percent, though not for another three weeks. Trump suggested on Wednesday that more countries could face secondary tariffs for buying oil in Russia, after India. 'You're going to see a lot more. You're going to see so much secondary sanctions,' Trump said. Trade talks with China are ongoing and Trump officials discussed extending the Aug. 12 deadline for a 30 percent tariff on China's goods. Trump would still need to agree to an extension, and it's unclear how long it would last. The president has also threatened industry-specific tariffs, including up to 250 percent on pharmaceutical imports. The administration imposed copper tariffs this month, though certain products will not be tariffed until 2027. Tariffs on automobiles and steel and aluminum are already in place.


Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Tracking Trump: Trump intends to meet with Putin; FEMA staff reassigned to ICE; 50% tariffs on India; and more
Trump intends to meet with Vladimir Putin soon. Gabbard overrode CIA officials' concerns about releasing a classified report. FEMA staffers were reassigned to support deportations. Trump threatened to raise tariffs on India to 50 percent. Trump suggested he may push for an end to D.C. home rule. RFK Jr. ended government mRNA vaccine projects. Trump's 50 percent tariffs on Brazil went into effect. Before you go … The Trump administration's refusal to release the Epstein files angered members of the president's MAGA base. But he has been largely successful in getting the furor to calm down. Here's how he did it. Want to stay on top of President Trump's second term? Sign up for the newsletter to get the top stories every weeknight.