‘Car Wash caucus’ backs Bolsonaro, who buried their investigation

The most extensive anti-corruption investigation in Brazilian history, Operation Car Wash was systematically buried under the presidency of far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, who bragged that there was “no more corruption in the government” back in October 2020.

The probe uncovered corruption schemes involving members of virtually all Brazilian political parties and many of the country’s top construction conglomerates, but was neutered and then disbanded under Mr. Bolsonaro’s watch.

On Sunday, Operation Car Wash’s two most prominent figures — former lead judge Sergio Moro and task force prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol — were elected to the upper and lower houses of Congress, respectively. 

And despite having their legacies dismantled by the incumbent president, they have put their weight firmly behind Mr. Bolsonaro ahead of the October 30 runoff vote.

Their calculation, it appears, was simple. The favorite to beat Mr. Bolsonaro in the second round vote at the end of the month, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was Operation Car Wash’s white whale. Sending Lula to jail in 2018 on passive corruption and money laundering charges was to be a career-defining achievement for both Mr. Moro and Mr. Dallagnol, and the pair were found to have crossed their constitutional limits to convict the former president.

After a series of leaked Telegram messages showed Mr. Moro working in cahoots with task force prosecutors, the judge would eventually be ruled as biased in his treatment of the former president. 

Mr. Dallagnol, in turn, was forced to pay Lula damages in relation to a now-notorious PowerPoint presentation the prosecutor delivered in September 2016, accusing the former president of being the brains behind all the corruption schemes the investigation had uncovered up to that point.

Despite having most of their work undone by the Bolsonaro government, Messrs. Moro and Dallagnol evidently could not bear the thought of Lula...