After a Brazilian Senate committee recommended President Jair Bolsonaro face potential criminal indictments on errors and omissions on COVID-19 death toll numbers, former President Donald Trump expressed his support for the embattled leader.
Trump wrote Tuesday night in a statement from his Save America PAC:
"President Jair Bolsonaro and I have become great friends over the past few years. He fights hard for, and loves, the people of Brazil — just like I do for the people of the United States. Brazil is lucky to have a man such as Jair Bolsonaro working for them. He is a great president and will never let the people of his great country down!"
A Brazilian Senate committee voted 7-4 to recommend charges on Bolsonaro after a six-month investigation of the government's handling of the pandemic. It formally approved a report calling for prosecutors to try Bolsonaro on charges ranging from charlatanism and inciting crime to misuse of public funds and crimes against humanity, and in doing so hold him responsible for many of Brazil's more than 600,000 COVID-19 deaths.
The president has denied wrongdoing, and the decision on whether to file most of the charges will be up to Prosecutor-General Augusto Aras, a Bolsonaro appointee who is widely viewed as protecting him. The allegation of crimes against humanity would need to be pursued by the International Criminal Court.
via newsmax