Valdemar says Bolsonaro pressured him to question the election at the TSE

In a statement given to the Federal Police (PF), the national president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, stated that former president Jair Bolsonaro and party deputies had pressured him to file the action at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) questioning the result of the second round of the 2022 presidential elections. The information is in the documents released this Friday (15), after minister Alexandre de Moraes removed the confidentiality of the testimonies in Operation Tempus Veritatiswhich investigates an attempted coup d’état.

In the 22-page statement, the PF points out the questions asked to Valdemar Costa and his answers. When asked about his participation in the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro, Costa Neto denied any participation in meetings with ministers of the Bolsonaro government and said that he “has held the presidency of the Liberal Party for approximately eight years.”

The PF questioned whether Costa Neto participated in the meeting on July 5, 2022, organized by Bolsonaro, used by the PF to support investigations against the possibility of a coup. The PL president denied participation in the meeting or any knowledge about it, and also said he did not know whether the meeting was held on an official basis or of an electoral nature.

After Costa Neto’s denials, the PF presented the declarant with part of Jair Bolsonaro’s initial opening speech at the meeting with some excerpts in which he reports that there was fraud in the 2022 elections, so that the candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would win.

Afterwards, the PF asked Costa Neto if he agreed with Bolsonaro’s words that there would be fraud in electronic voting machines and consequently in the 2022 presidential elections. “who does not agree with President Bolsonaro’s speech, as he has already participated in several elections and has never witnessed anything that discredits the Brazilian electoral system. He even instructed the party bench to vote against the implementation of the printed vote“.

The president of the PL also declared that until then he had never received “guidance from then president Jair Bolsonaro to question the electronic voting machines, but only to monitor them. To do this, they hired the services of the company IVL – Instituto Voto Legal to monitor the development of the election and whether there was security.”

Regarding his visits to Palácio do Alvorada, after the second round of elections, Costa Neto told the PF that “he only went a few times to meet the president, see his state of mind and invite him to be honorary president of the party.” He said that at the time “Bolsonaro was dejected after losing the election, he hardly talked to anyone and the atmosphere was one of mourning.”

Electronic System Inspection Report

Valdemar Costa Neto also had to answer questions about the Electronic Voting System Report presented by the Ministry of Defense on November 9, 2022.

The president of the PL denied participation in the preparation of the report and said that he could not say who wrote it, he also reinforced that the PL did not participate in the preparation of the document.

On that occasion, the PF presented the deponent with a document written by Mauro Cid addressed to the former Minister of Defense, which apparently is a draft to be signed by a representative of a political party and which presents supposed information: “NEW DATA has emerged, calling into question the health of the link between the voter’s manifestation and the vote counted in the electronic ballot box”.

Costa Neto said he never had knowledge of or access to the document mentioned by the PF. He also denied knowledge of the data collected by the Ministry of Defense and that he did not personally know the former minister in the Bolsonaro government. According to him, “there was no guidance from then-president Jair Bolsonaro to try to encourage the narrative of the existence of ‘fraud in the elections’.

Hiring of Instituto Voto Livre

Regarding the hiring of the Instituto Voto Livre by the Liberal Party to monitor the development of the election, Costa Neto said that “the idea arose between the deputies of the PL and former president Jair Bolsonaro”. The IVL nomination, according to him, was made by former minister Marcos Pontes.

Costa Neto informed that the hiring took place in mid-2022, with the aim of “monitor the progress of the elections, which was even encouraged by the TSE”. He also said that the “amount paid was one million reais, in five installments, paid with PL’s own resources.”

When asked whether IVL prepared the inspection report, Costa Neto said that “he received some reports, but he stopped following them and passed them on to Mr. José Tadeu Candelária, president of the PL of São Paulo, as they were not presenting anything concrete”.

“After the 2022 elections, the IVL presented a report that demonstrated that in the newer ballot boxes (numbered) President Bolsonaro had a majority of votes and in the older ballot boxes (not numbered) candidate Lula had a majority of votes. This report was presented to the TE, who responded to the questions and imposed a fine of R$22.9 million”, said Costa Neto.

The PL president was also asked about the involvement of Argentine marketer Fernando Cerimedo in preparing the report on electronic voting machines and whether he watched the video that raised suspicions about the voting machines. All questions were denied.

Coup d’état planning

The PF asked Costa Neto about the PL campaign committee, located in Lago Sul – an upscale neighborhood in Brasília, and he replied that it was rented from February 15, 2022 until January 31, 2023 and paid for with the party’s own resources. . The location was also confirmed by him as Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign center and that it had an exclusive office for vice-president Braga Netto’s workstation.

After the 2nd round of elections, Costa Neto informed that the residence was under the responsibility of Washington Costa Silva Bispo, who was the caretaker of the place, until December 20, 2022. The PF questioned him about the visits of protesters camped in Brasília in the aforementioned resistance, during November and December 2022, but he denied having knowledge about the fact and also said that he never met with protesters and did not even know about supposed meetings.

Costa Neto also denied any knowledge or contact with Amauri Feres Saad, a lawyer cited as the author of the supposed draft that decreed a state of defense in the country, and who, according to the PF, had participated in a meeting at the PL residence on December 6, 2022 The deponent also denied any proximity to José Eduardo de Oliveira e Silva, a priest from the diocese of Osasco, and Bolsonaro’s former advisor, Filipe Martins, who are on the list of those investigated in the operation.

The PL president also had to provide clarification on a video posted on the party channel, published on December 15, 2022, in which he appears sending a message to people who remained in front of the barracks. When asked by the PF about the intention of the message, Costa Neto explained that “he asked people to continue fighting, but he didn’t want people to remain camped out. The fight should continue in another way, monitoring the government. That it was not up to the declarant to ask for the demobilization of the people and that Bolsonaro would not disappoint the people, as he would continue leading the opposition as honorary president of the party”.

Regarding the draft of the coup, found in the house of former minister Anderson Torres, Costa Neto told the PF that he received documents written down on paper, from unknown people on the streets, and that the document had no identification. He also explained that he always discarded the documents he received as “apocryphal”, and that he always he disregarded such documents and claims presented, as he did not consider the idea of ​​any type of “coup”.

Asked about the meeting on December 7, 2022, at Palácio do Alvorada, with the presentation of a draft that would annul the 2022 elections, Costa Neto said that he was not present at the meeting nor was he aware of what was discussed. He also denied having formulated the speech made by Bolsonaro on December 9, 2022, in which the former president broke his silence, after his defeat in the elections.

Regarding the monitoring of minister Alexandre de Moraees to carry out the coup d’état, the president of the PL said that he never knew of such monitoring and that he did not participate in any planning or execution related to this matter. Finally, Costa Neto highlighted that “he was never aware of any action or planning regarding the ‘Coup d’Etat'”.