BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Eduardo Bolsonaro, a son of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, said on Tuesday he will take leave from his role as congressman to live in the United States and seek to build international support for his father and their political group.
During a 10-minute video published on his YouTube channel, Eduardo said he will take a temporary leave from his role in Congress to focus on developing international support to fight what he called persecution against the Bolsonaro family and their allies and supporters.
Eduardo, one of Jair Bolsonaro five children, has played the role of the family’s foreign emissary, appearing at U.S. gun shows and conservative political conferences.
In the video, the Congressman said he has been already in the United States since late February for pre-scheduled travel, without providing details of his location. He told CNN Brasil later on Tuesday he plans to file for political asylum.
Congressman Bolsonaro has boosted his campaign abroad since his father was barred from running for office until 2030 and had his passport taken in February 2024 on the order of Brazil’s top court.
Last month, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Workers Party asked for the younger Bolsonaro’s passport to be seized, but Brazil Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes rejected the request on Tuesday.
Congressman Bolsonaro said in the video he will seek punishment for officials, including Moraes who oversees investigations against his father. He also wants to build support for a pardon for the participants of January 8 riots, when government buildings were ransacked days after President Lula’s 2023 inauguration.
Justice Moraes is overseeing the case of a 2022 coup attempt, which Jair Bolsonaro was charged with leading, as well as probes on misinformation and hate speech in social media by far-right influencers.
Moraes was sued last month by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group and video-sharing platform Rumble for issuing a ruling that aimed to force the video-sharing platform to delete accounts allegedly spreading misinformation. Last year, the judge also ordered a temporary shut down of Elon Musk’s X in the country, after the social media company failed to comply with his rulings.
“I know now he (Trump) will continue to welcome my son,” Jair Bolsonaro told reporters in Brasilia.
(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello in Brasilia and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; additional reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia; Editing by Michael Perry)
