Allies fear that the probe will deepen Bolsonaro’s weariness – 05/17/2023 – Politics

Allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) fear the effects that the probe into messages from Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid —a former assistant to the Planalto Palace—may generate and assess that it tends to deepen the former president’s political weariness.

Such as Sheet showed, documents from the investigation that targets Bolsonaro, family members and his former advisors show that a series of breaches of secrecy determined by Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), exposed the routine and details of the presidential office in the past management.

The messages to which the Sheet had access in part, show details of the Presidency’s routine and dialogues between advisors, covering everything from commonplace matters, such as public servants’ time scales and disagreements between co-workers, to topics such as considerations on the possible dismissal of Paulo Guedes (Economy) due to the escalation in diesel price in 2021.

From access to Mauro Cid’s conversations, the PF had at least five other authorizations from Moraes to break bank, telematic and tax secrecy of at least 13 people and one company – including three Bolsonaro advisors and two former advisors. First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro interlocutors privately question the extent of breaches of secrecy and complain about the access investigators had to the conversations.

They even say it is a “fishing expedition”, or probationary fishing. The term is used to designate when investigators search the privacy or private life of a target without a specific objective, just to try to identify facts that can be used against that person.

In the assessment of these allies of Bolsonaro, the possibility that new messages become public could create new constraints and increase the former president’s political distress.

There is also fear due to the fact that the PF possibly accessed Cid’s conversations during the electoral period and after Bolsonaro’s defeat by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). As it has already been revealed that Cid received coup messages from people close to the former president, allies fear that new conversations on the subject will arise.

Former advisors point out that the process of attrition on Bolsonaro occurs at the same time that he faces a process at the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) that could culminate in his ineligibility. The TSE is chaired by Moraes.

Internally at the STF, Moraes is the target of criticism in conversations about what is seen as an exaggeration by the magistrate in conducting the investigation against Bolsonaro.

Members of the court who follow a more guaranteeing line of law privately say that the method of starting an investigation for a given reason and expanding it to others that were not initially in the crosshairs was a recurring practice of Lava Jato — an operation that ended up being, in large part, annulled by the Supreme itself.

Despite the criticism, the assessment is that the chance of any decision by Moraes against Bolsonaro being overturned is practically zero. The minister has the support of his colleagues and has already had several orders endorsed by the other magistrates.

Ministers Kassio Nunes Marques and André Mendonça, who were appointed by the former president to the Supreme Court, tend to disagree. The rest of the court, in almost every trial, has supported the magistrate’s positions.

The coup actions of January 8 were essential for Moraes to maintain broad support within the court. Despite the dissatisfaction with his performance, the invasion of the headquarters of the three Powers reinforced the need to keep the minister protected and endorsed by the other magistrates.

Bolsonaristas saw in the provisional release granted to former Minister of Justice Anderson Torres, last week, a reaction by Moraes precisely to the criticism he had been receiving about his conduct of cases related to January 8.

The minister’s surroundings, however, do not see him as pressured in relation to Torres and points out that, even within the STF, his decisions have been accompanied by almost all other members.

Such as Sheet showed, in the evaluation of lawyers Moraes has acted in a similar way to Lava Jato authorities to close the siege against the former president and his allies.