Beer at the palace and dribbling in Gilmar led Kassio to the STF – 09/30/2023 – Power

The federal judge and the deputy met by chance at a steakhouse located in a simple house in Vila Planalto, 10 minutes from Congress and the courts of Brasília. Kassio Nunes Marques introduced himself to Jair Bolsonaro at lunchtime. The two exchanged phone numbers and started talking via WhatsApp.

It was the first months of 2018. Bolsonaro’s pre-candidacy for the Presidency was gaining momentum, but few people were already betting that he would reach the Palácio do Planalto. Kassio was vice-president of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region and was campaigning for a seat in the STJ (Superior Court of Justice).

The accidental meeting paved the way for a relationship that, two years later, would result in an appointment to the STF (Supreme Federal Court) that surprised court ministers, politicians, Bolsonaro’s allies and Kassio’s friends.

It was the first chapter of a rapprochement process that remained practically unknown, since Kassio was not part of any list of candidates for the STF. The federal judge, however, would start frequenting the Palácio da Alvorada to watch football matches with the president and drink beer.

The seeds were planted in 2018. In August, after the meeting at the restaurant, Bolsonaro was in Kassio’s office at TRF-1 with the ruralist group.

Parliamentarians wanted the judge to overturn an injunction that had suspended the registration of pesticides containing glyphosate, a substance identified as probably carcinogenic. Days later, Kassio fulfilled the request.

Bolsonaro reported a good impression of the judge after the meeting. According to allies, the then deputy identified a magistrate there willing to listen to the ruralists’ plea and follow a vision that he considered important.

The final stretch of the electoral campaign made the two become much more than mere acquaintances. One of Kassio’s main moves was a visit to the Vivendas da Barra condominium, in Rio, between the first and second rounds of that election.

Bolsonaro’s house had become a meeting point after the stab wound suffered by the then candidate.

Weeks after the deputy left the hospital and returned home, Kassio visited the presidential candidate to wish him a good recovery. The two spoke again when the judge called to congratulate Bolsonaro on his victory in the election.

People close to Bolsonaro and Kassio say that the judge believed he had become a strong name there to reach the STJ.

He had been targeting the court since 2015, when he ran for a seat, but narrowly did not have enough votes in the election for the triple list. Direct connection with the President of the Republic was now practically a guarantee of appointment.

The two became friends. After moving to Palácio da Alvorada, Bolsonaro began inviting Kassio to visit him. A Flamengo fan, the judge watched the team’s matches with the president on some weekends.

The meetings nurtured a relationship of trust, which would only become public later. It was on these occasions that the two would talk while drinking beer (Bolsonaro was not a teetotaler, but he drank little, according to allies).

Therefore, it was not a figure of speech, the explanation that Bolsonaro gave after nominating Kassio. “I even said: look, this guy has to have a beer with me, or tubaína. I’m not going to nominate a guy just based on his resume”, said the then president in an interview on October 10, 2020.

At Alvorada, the two talked about an agenda that Bolsonaro considered central to the Judiciary. Even though he did not consider the Catholic Kassio for the STF, the then president saw his conservative credentials.

“If we are drinking soda together, we have things in common to discuss: the issue of abortion, family, weapons, foreign policy, free markets, these things,” said Bolsonaro in that same interview.

“What do I convey if I’m having a tubaína with you? What does it mean? That we are friends.”

In mid-2020, the friendship consolidated Kassio as the Bolsonaro family’s candidate for a vacancy that would open at the STJ at the end of the year. At that time, senator Flávio Bolsonaro (RJ) took Kassio to meetings with parliamentarians and ministers of higher courts in search of support for that seat.

The two were accompanied by federal judge Maria do Carmo Cardoso, from TRF-1, known as Tia Carminha. The senator and the judge are pointed out as those who would later give Bolsonaro arguments to nominate Kassio for the STF, not for the STJ — but the relationship with the president weighed more than any sponsorship.

The selection process was rushed in the last days of September 2020, when Celso de Mello informed the STF of his early retirement. The minister was supposed to leave the court on November 1st, but scheduled his departure for October 13th.

Until then, the favorite for the vacancy on the STF was the minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Jorge Oliveira. Bolsonaro had already discussed his replacement in the government with assistants, and the political world treated him as a virtual nominee for the court.

On the night of September 28, a dinner at the apartment of then senator Kátia Abreu (TO) brought together minister Gilmar Mendes, the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (AP), senator Renan Calheiros (AL) and other parliamentarians.

There, they reached a conclusion: given the unpredictability of the Bolsonaro government, Jorge Oliveira would be a good option.

Oliveira was called for a conversation the following afternoon, in the same place, with the same cast and other cardinals from the Senate.

Parliamentarians asked about sensitive topics, such as prison after conviction in the second instance, but they realized that Oliveira was avoiding it. Within hours, they knew why.

Alcolumbre had been tasked with telling Bolsonaro that there was support for Oliveira even among ministers like Gilmar Mendes and Dias Toffoli. When the senator approached the president, he heard that another name had already been chosen. Bolsonaro remained mysterious, but stated that he would take the nominee to Gilmar’s house hours later.

That September 29, Kassio received a call from a Bolsonaro aide during a TRF-1 trial. It was an urgent summons to the Planalto Palace. He apologized to his court colleagues, said he had an emergency and left the session.

The judge had already received signals that his destination could be the STF, but he did not count on the indication. In Bolsonaro’s office, the president explained that he had anticipated his choice to try to circumvent pressure from politicians and STF ministers in favor of other names.

Kassio stayed in the presidential office until early evening, when the two went to Gilmar Mendes’ house, where Davi Alcolumbre was already there. The two expressed surprise, as they also treated the judge only as a candidate for the STJ.

Later, Dias Toffoli joined the group and starred in an embarrassing scene, according to those present. Faced with Bolsonaro and Kassio, the minister insisted that Jorge Oliveira was a better candidate for the vacancy. Afterwards, he tried to undo the embarrassment.

The revelation of Kassio’s name sparked a rebellion among politicians who defended Attorney General Augusto Aras for the position. After news of the dinner leaked, senators held a meeting to discuss a way to pressure Bolsonaro to change his mind.

Kassio appeared at the meeting, invited by Renan Calheiros. He went through an informal hearing, answered questions from senators about guarantees and topics such as agribusiness and defused the bomb. Ciro Nogueira from Piauí gave favorable testimony to the future minister.

Even though Kassio’s appointment was marked, at the time, with a fingerprint from the center, what helped the judge was the opposite.

Bolsonaro decided on one of the few names in the Judiciary that he had access to, that almost no one knew was in the running and that was not a recommendation from any political group or STF minister.

The tubaine criterion was valid.