Insider

Bolsonaro keeps mum during deposition on coup plot

Lawyer Paulo Cunha Bueno, who represents Mr. Bolsonaro. He told reporters his client “has never had any sympathy for any kind of putschist movement,” which is false. Photo: Rafa Neddermeyer/Agência Brasil

Former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro remained silent on Thursday during a Federal Police hearing as part of an investigation into an attempted coup to keep him in office in defiance of the results of the 2022 presidential election.

Paulo Cunha Bueno, one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyers, told reporters Thursday that his client “has never had any sympathy for any kind of putschist movement.”

That is false.

During Independence Day demonstrations on September 7, 2021, Mr. Bolsonaro told a crowd of thousands of supporters in Brasília that he would soon convene a meeting of the Council of the Republic, which is responsible for advising the president before he decides whether to request a state of siege — a situation in which constitutional guarantees are suspended and the president is granted emergency powers.

A similar instrument was planned to be used in late 2022 to overturn the election results, according to a draft decree found by the Federal Police in the home of former Justice Minister Anderson Torres.

Another Federal Police investigation found that senior officials in the previous Bolsonaro administration (2019-2022) were part of a criminal ring that aimed to flood public discourse with false allegations to discredit Brazil’s electronic voting system, recruit military officials to support a coup, draft legal arguments to support their claims, incite supporters to riot, and spy on judges and political opponents.

Footage of a cabinet meeting recorded on July 5, 2022, and made public by the Supreme Court earlier this month, shows the then-president instructing his ministers to challenge Brazil’s electoral system and spread misinformation on his behalf.

Mr. Bolsonaro’s attorneys had unsuccessfully asked for the hearing to be postponed, saying they hadn’t been given access to the whole body of evidence against their client.

Other former members of the Bolsonaro administration were also scheduled for hearings at the Federal Police today, such as retired general Walter Braga Netto, his former 2022 running mate and defense minister, and retired general Augusto Heleno, who was in charge of the federal intelligence service.

Fabio Wajngarten, a spokesman for Mr. Bolsonaro, confirmed to reporters that the former president will attend a demonstration scheduled for this Sunday in São Paulo, in which Mr. Bolsonaro pledges to “defend” himself against “all the accusations.”