Bolsonaro’s lawyers have petitioned Trump adviser Darren Beatty to meet with the former president at a prison in Brasilia.
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Lawyers for former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have asked the country’s Supreme Court to approve a visit by Darren Beattie, a far-right adviser in President Donald Trump’s administration.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyers are arranging to meet with Mr. Beatty next week, during normal visiting hours, on March 16 or 17, according to court filings released Tuesday.
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“Exceptional permission will be sought for the visit to take place in the afternoon of March 16, or in the morning or early afternoon of March 17,” the application states.
The petition also asks for an interpreter to be present at the meeting, given that Bolsonaro does not speak fluent English. The request was first reported by Reuters.
Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for trying to overturn his defeat in Brazil’s 2022 presidential election.
The 70-year-old is an incumbent on the campaign trail, and prosecutors have accused him of conspiring with military officials to subvert the democratic rule of law, among other charges.
He was convicted last September and has been in prison since November after his appeal was rejected.
Tuesday’s request has raised eyebrows among Bolsonaro’s critics, who accuse him of trying to use his ties to Trump to sway the legal process.
President Trump has previously slammed Bolsonaro’s legal prosecution, calling it a political witch hunt and comparing it to his own legal predicament in the United States.
In August, President Trump raised tariffs on some Brazilian exports to 50%, motivated by Bolsonaro’s indictment.
“This trial should not take place. This is a witch hunt and must end immediately,” he said in the letter announcing the world’s highest tariffs at the time.
But Trump has since enjoyed improved relations with Brazil’s leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s rival in the 2022 presidential election.
Brazil is set to elect a new president in October, with Bolsonaro remaining a leading figure on the country’s right.
Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flavio Bolsonaro, announced his candidacy in December with the support of his father and is expected to run against Lula, who is seeking a fourth term.
A Datafolha poll in March suggested that Flavio Bolsonaro was closing the gap with Lula, the front-runner in the race. Forty-six percent of respondents supported Mr. Lula, while 43% supported the younger Mr. Bolsonaro.
Flavio Bolsonaro and his brothers continue to petition for their father’s release.
Flavio, for example, suggested that the “price” for withdrawing his candidacy was his father’s freedom, a statement he later retracted.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s older brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, is on trial for obstruction of justice, with prosecutors citing his attempts to plead with President Trump for cooperation in his father’s case.
Trump administration representative Beatty expressed sympathy for the Bolsonaro family’s claims.
Beattie, an outspoken critic of Brazil’s government, called Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes “the main architect of the censorship and persecution complex against Bolsonaro.”
He served as an aide to President Trump during his first term, but was fired in 2018 after reports surfaced that he had attended a white supremacist conference two years earlier.
