Flavio Bolsonaro flees Brazil after election loss, US says will grant visa
News comes one day after Brazil's Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to hand over his passports in money-laundering probe.
A senior US State Department official has said that the Trump administration will issue visas to Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and his family, allowing them to enter the US after news outlets reported that Bolsonaro had fled Brazil following his loss in the country’s presidential election.
The news came on Tuesday, one day after Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to turn over his passports as part of a probe into alleged money laundering. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and said on Monday that he would stay in the country and lead the opposition.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has previously accused members of the Bolsonaro family of courting US interference in Brazilian affairs for their political benefit, called the right-wing senator’s actions shameful.
“This is what the Bolsonaro family is like,” Lula said. “Brazil is their second nation, the US is their first.”