Valdemar and Torres disagree with Bolsonaro and speak to the PF – 02/22/2024 – Power

The president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, and the former minister of Justice Anderson Torres disagreed with other allies of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and answered questions from the Federal Police during testimony this Thursday (22) regarding investigations into the plans discussed at the end of 2022 for a coup d’état against the election of Lula (PT) to the Presidency of the Republic.

Valdemar ended his testimony at the PF headquarters, in Brasília, at around 5:15 pm. According to the politician’s defense, he “answered all the questions that were asked of him”. The lawyers, however, decided not to comment on the findings.

Anderson Torres continued to provide clarifications to investigators this afternoon. The former minister’s decision not to remain silent in front of the PF had already been announced by the defense.

“[Anderson] thus reaffirms its willingness to cooperate with the investigations and clarify any and all doubts there may be, as it is the most interested in the unbiased investigation of the facts”, said lawyer Eumar Novacki.

Bolsonaro and general officers Braga Netto, Augusto Heleno, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira and Almir Garnier remained silent.

The defenses of those under investigation claim that they did not have access to the full documents seized by the Federal Police, such as the annexes to Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid’s statement.

The former president’s lawyers asked the STF (Supreme Federal Court) three times to postpone the date of Bolsonaro’s hearing. Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the case, denied the three requests.

Bolsonaro arrived at the PF headquarters in Brasília at around 2:20 pm. The testimony was scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm. With Bolsonaro’s decision to remain silent, the testimony ended shortly afterwards. Former ministers, former advisors, military personnel and allies were also summoned to provide clarifications to the PF at the same time. In total, 23 people. Only in Brasília, 13.

Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Paulo Bueno, said this Thursday that the defense did not have access to all the elements of the charges against the former president, which led to the option of silence. He also stated that Bolsonaro was never sympathetic to the coup movement.

“The president remained silent, as the defense anticipated. This silence, I want to make clear, is not simply the use of constitutional law, but a strategy based on the fact that the defense did not have access to all the elements that are being attributed to the president the commission of certain crimes.”

The PF has been investigating negotiations for a coup d’état since finding at the home of former Justice Minister Anderson Torres, in January 2023, a draft decree for Bolsonaro to establish a state of defense at the headquarters of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court).

The objective would be to reverse the election result, according to investigators.

With Mauro Cid’s statement and the evidence obtained in other operations, the PF came to the conclusion that Bolsonaro had access to versions of the coup draft (not exactly the same as the one with Torres).

According to investigations, he even asked for changes to the text and presented the proposal to military leaders, to probe possible support from the Armed Forces for the venture.