Lawyer says at TSE that Bolsonarism should not be targeted – 06/22/2023 – Politics

Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) lawyer, Tarcísio Vieira de Carvalho, defended this Thursday (21) in the gallery of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) the rejection of the PDT process that could make the former president ineligible.

Carvalho classified the action brought by the labor party as “impostor and riddled with ideological falsehood” and stated that the political movement represented by the former representative is not on trial.

“Bolsonarism is not on trial, as you would like to believe, it is not arbitrating an imaginary bloody dispute between civilization and barbarism”, he said.

The content and circumstances of the meeting with ambassadors held by the then president last year are at the heart of the electoral action that began to be judged by the Electoral Justice.

At the time, less than three months before the first round, 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.

According to current legislation, if convicted, he will be able to run again in 2030, aged 75, thus staying away from three elections until then (one of them being the 2026 national).

In the judgment session this Thursday, Carvalho stated that the court has to judge only the meeting with representatives of other countries and that the court cannot take into account facts that arise after the protocol of the action, such as the draft of the coup found in the house of the former Minister of Justice.

“The meeting with the ambassadors, held long before the beginning of the electoral period, in which the president, yes, perhaps in an inappropriate, acidic, excessively blunt tone, made remarks about the electoral system, necessary improvements on the vote collection system, is under judgment. “, he stated.

“Here indeed there is a restriction. This is not a new document, this draft. It is a new fact of January 13 of the following year”, he said. And he continued: “The forceps were inserted into the viscera of this original process, which dealt with a different matter, a foreign body”, said the lawyer regarding the draft of the coup.

According to him, the episode could give rise to investigation, but not through the Electoral Justice. For him, the means found by the PDT had as its political objective only to attack Bolsonarism or even to extirpate the construction of a right-wing political group from Brazil.

According to Carvalho, the coup action by Bolsonaro’s militancy of invading and destroying the headquarters of the Three Powers “is not a result of the meeting with ambassadors”. He also stated that this judgment is identical to the case in which the ticket of Dilma Rousseff (PT) and Michel Temer (MDB) was acquitted.

At that time, the TSE did not accept the inclusion of new evidence related to the initial action that asked for the impeachment of the two for alleged slush funds in the campaign.

According to him, new elements discovered by Lava Jato that corroborated the initial thesis and reinforced the thesis that there was dirty money in the PT campaign were not accepted by the electoral court. For him, the same understanding should be applied to the draft of the coup.

Bolsonaro’s choice of Carvalho to make his defense is part of the strategy to try to avoid ineligibility.

Minister of the TSE from 2014 to 2021, the lawyer is respected by members of the court and seeks to adopt a more technical position in eminently political debates, such as Bolsonaro’s behavior in relation to the electoral system, so as not to displease ministers.

This occurred, for example, in the action presented last year by the PL in which it questioned, without evidence, the results of the polls.

Since the beginning of negotiations to take over Bolsonaro’s campaign, Carvalho said he would not participate in challenges to the voting system and it was up to the political wing, more radicalized around Bolsonaro, to do so.

The episode led to a fine of BRL 23 million for the legend, in addition to the blocking of resources from the party fund.

However, the lawyer was unable to fully detach himself from the former president’s aggressive stance against the institutions, although he adopts a more sober behavior, for example, than Frederick Wassef, Bolsonaro’s lawyer in other cases and who has a more belligerent role in relation to superior courts.

Carvalho has always been seen by friends as a conservative man, but he heard recommendations from people close to him not to accept being hired by the PL to defend Bolsonaro before the TSE in last year’s elections.

The assessment was that the posture of the then president in relation to the Judiciary could spill over to him. And rightly so. Behind the scenes, TSE ministers believe that Carvalho has become too attached to Bolsonaro.