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Police in Brazil swooped on the home and political headquarters of Jair Bolsonaro early Friday, searching the properties and ordering the former president to wear an electronic ankle tag.
The right-winger and ally of US President Donald Trump was also barred from speaking to foreign officials or approaching embassies, and banned from social media, under orders of Brazil’s Supreme Court.
The restrictions were motivated by concerns that Bolsonaro would flee the country, amid his trial over an alleged plot to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which he lost to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing.
Speaking outside the police station Friday, Bolsonaro called the ankle tag a “supreme humiliation” and said that he “never thought of leaving Brazil.”
“The suspicions (of me leaving the country) are an exaggeration… damn it, I’m a former president of the republic – I’m 70 years old,” he said.
Bolsonaro added that police seized “about 14,000 US dollars” and claimed the money was for personal use, adding he had the receipts to prove it.
Hours after the ruling, the US State Department announced visa restrictions against Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and an unspecified number of other court officials, accusing them of carrying out a “political witch hunt” against Bolsonaro.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement said he had “ordered visa revocations for Moraes and his allies on the court, as well as their immediate family members effective immediately.”
Moraes made headlines last year when he banned social media platform X, during a feud with its billionaire owner – and former Trump ally – Elon Musk, over hate speech moderation and the company’s failure to name a legal representative in the country, as required by law. The platform has since been restored in the nation of 220 million people.
Lula denounced Rubio’s order in a Saturday morning statement on X, characterizing the visa revocation as an “unacceptable” interference in Brazil’s justice system.
Friday’s raid came after Trump tried to force Lula to end the criminal trial against Bolsonaro, by threatening crippling tariffs on the country. Trump linked the tariff threat to what he described as a “witch hunt” trial against Bolsonaro.
About a week later, the US launched an investigation into “unfair” trading practices by Brazil, according to a statement by the United States Trade Representative.
Brazil’s Supreme Court on Friday accused Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo of working with the US to impose the tariffs. CNN has reached out to the US State Department for comment on this allegation.
The court documents highlighted a confidential meeting Bolsonaro had with a US State Department official, and highlighted Trump’s letter as an “offensive” and “clear threat” to Brazilian sovereignty.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Bolsonaro denied that anyone lobbied the US to sanction Brazilian authorities working on his case.
“There isn’t any lobby to sanction an authority,” Bolsonaro said.
Speaking exclusively to CNN Thursday, Lula said that Trump’s threats had broken from protocol, and argued that his predecessor’s fate cannot be part of trade negotiations.
“The judiciary branch of power in Brazil is independent. The president of the Republic has no influence whatsoever,” he said, adding that Bolsonaro “is not being judged personally. He is being judged by the acts he tried to organize a coup d’etat.”
Lula added that Trump would be standing trial if the actions he took during the insurrection of January 6, 2021 had been committed in Brazil.
On Friday, Trump posted a letter to Bolsonaro on Truth Social, in which he suggested the former Brazilian leader was the victim of an “unjust system,” and said that he would be “watching closely.”
Bolsonaro posted Trump’s letter on his official X account and, in a subsequent video, thanked Trump for his support with “eternal gratitude.”
Bolsonaro had previously appeared to be preparing for the outcome of his trial and dismissed the idea that he might be considered a flight risk, saying: “I’ll face the process.”
“I’m not considering doing anything, I’m not considering anything, nothing at all,” he said, adding: “I’m not a criminal, the criminal is the one persecuting me.”
Bolsonaro could face more than four decades behind bars if found guilty of masterminding the coup.
He is among 34 people charged with five crimes, including attempting the coup. Part of the coup plot, prosecutors allege, involved a plan to potentially assassinate Lula, his vice president and a minister of the Supreme Court.
Brian Winter, executive vice president of Americas Society and Council of the Americas, told CNN that Trump’s mooted use of trade levers may not be so painful to Brazil – for which the US is not as significant a trading partner as, say, China.
“Brazil only sends about 11% of its exports to the United States,” Winter said. “That’s half what Brazil sends to China, and for some of Brazil’s exports – not all, but for some of them – they can find other markets besides the United States.”
“The question is, if this keeps escalating, could President Trump use measures that are even more painful, such as financial sanctions against large groups of people?” Winter asked, noting that Trump previously threatened, among other things, a travel ban on Colombian citizens during a disagreement with the Colombian government over migrant flights.
“It’s possible that President Trump could continue to escalate this in a way that could eventually produce considerably more pain for the Brazilian government and for the Brazilian people,” Winter said.
This story has been updated.
CNN’s Duarte Mendonca and Marcelo Medeiros contributed reporting.
