Senate schedules key confirmation hearings

The Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee has scheduled for next Tuesday a confirmation hearing for Prosecutor General Augusto Aras, nominated by President Jair Bolsonaro to serve another two-year term in office.

Mr. Aras faces enormous pressure from his subordinates, with a group of 31 deputy prosecutors signing a petition for him to open a criminal investigation against the president — who sent a message to a WhatsApp broadcast list requesting support for a “counter-coup.” Yesterday, two senators requested that the Supreme Court investigate Mr. Aras for malfeasance, claiming he has failed to perform his duties in allowing Mr. Bolsonaro to break the law unchallenged. 

Nevertheless, the Senate is expected to confirm his nomination — as the upper house usually does.

The decision to proceed with the confirmation process was a blow to the hopes of opposition senators of indicting Mr. Bolsonaro. They hoped to see Mr. Aras replaced by an interim after the end of his term, late in September, thereby creating a window of opportunity for the Federal Prosecution Office to present criminal charges against the president based on the Senate’s Covid hearings final report — which should be presented by mid-September.

The Senate also kicked off the process to confirm André Luiz Mendonça as a new Supreme Court justice. A Presbyterian preacher, he was selected by the president as a play to his evangelical allies.

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