Bolsonaro on TSE: ‘I took a stab in the back’ – 06/30/2023 – Politics

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Friday (30) that he was stabbed in the back by the decision of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). The court decided by 5 votes to 2 to make him ineligible for eight years.

“Today we are experiencing ineligibility here. I would not like to become ineligible. In politics, that phrase is not mine, nobody kills, nobody dies.”

“I hope, right, because they tried to kill me in Juiz de Fora not long ago with a stab in the stomach. And today I was stabbed in the back with the ineligibility for abuse of political power.”

Bolsonaro said that the Electoral Justice promoted a political judgment, referring then to the president of the TSE, Minister Alexandre de Moraes.

“No one can be the owner of the truth in Brazil. Even if it is in the Federal Supreme Court. You cannot have a Power greater than the other. What we are watching, basically, is a Judiciary, through one person, taking the measures of according to your head. Is that what we want for Brazil”?

The former president, 68, will only be able to run again in 2030, at the age of 75, thus staying away from three elections until then (one of which is the 2026 national one).

The action on trial focuses on the meeting in July last year with foreign ambassadors at the Alvorada Palace. At the time, Bolsonaro made false and distorted statements about the electoral process, claiming to be based on official data, in addition to seeking to discredit TSE ministers.

This Friday, when commenting on the result after lunch at a steakhouse in Belo Horizonte with supporters, the former president complained about the TSE’s performance in the elections. He also said that, during his government, he respected the Constitution, “begrudgingly” many times, and that this was not recognized.

“We know that, since I took office, they said I was going to carry out a coup. And we followed the elections. The way the superior electoral court acted, even forbidding me to do live in my house.”

Missing the military dictatorship (1964-1985), Bolsonaro flirted with coup d’état and made statements contrary to democracy throughout his presidency. The meeting with ambassadors, in July 2022, was not an isolated case.

Regarding the impact of the decision on the militancy and on the elections, the former president stated that “he is not dead”.

“We’re going to keep working. I’m not dead. We intend to make many mayors in next year’s elections. It’s not the end of the right wing in Brazil. Before me it existed, but it had no form. It started to gain materiality. Today people knows what the Supreme Court is, what Congress is, the STJ.”

Bolsonaro also said how he intends to move in the 2026 elections. “I’m a luxury electoral cable, if my parliamentary colleagues agree,” he said. “We are not going to give up on Brazil. After all, I have a 12-year-old daughter who intends to stay in Brazil.”

He also said he was not afraid of being arrested. “Arrested for what? Please state why,” he said, answering a reporter’s question. “That’s all that’s missing. Although about 300 are unfairly arrested in Brazil today”, he declared, referring to Bolsonaristas arrested after the January 8 coup attack.

“Prison, only if it’s abuse,” he added, still answering the same question.

Earlier, before the TSE decision, he said he will appeal to the STF (Federal Supreme Court) if he is rendered ineligible by the TSE. The statement was given to Rádio Itatiaia. Bolsonaro is in Belo Horizonte for the wake of the former Minister of Agriculture, Alysson Paolinelli.

“I’m going to talk to my lawyers, and the appeal will go to the STF,” he said to the radio, when asked what he would do if he were made ineligible. “This trial has no foot or head,” he declared.

“I didn’t attack the electoral system, I showed possible flaws”, he said, to the radio, about the meeting. The action was filed by the PDT.

In a social network, former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro said that “God has not lost and will never lose control of anything” and concluded “I am at your command, my CAPTAIN”.