US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that Flávio Bolsonaro was treated “very shabbily” in Brazil and that he could stay in the United States for as long as he wanted.
Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, said he has no plans to meet with Bolsonaro, who fled to the US after his election loss.
“No plans to meet, but I think he got treated very shabbily. Very shabbily, so he can stay here as long as he wants. Have you spoken with him? Bolsonaro, he can stay here as long as he wants.”
Trump also called Brazil’s elections a “disgrace” and repeated that Bolsonaro had been treated unfairly.
“He got treated very, in my opinion, the election was a disgrace. He got treated very shabbily and he can stay here as long as he wants,” Trump said in Florida while attending a Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago.
Bolsonaro fled Brazil after losing elections to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and arrived in Miami with his wife Fernanda and their two daughters Luiza and Carolina on Wednesday.
The former presidential candidate is under investigation regarding a sports betting matter and a probe concerning the production of a film about his father, Jair Bolsonaro, who served as Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2023, according to Brazilian authorities.
Also Read: Crossed into Argentina, flew to Ecuador before reaching US: Tracking Flávio Bolsonaro’s escape path
Bolsonaro claims he is ‘elected president’ of Brazil
After arriving in Florida, Bolsonaro released a statement saying he is the “elected president” of Brazil and added that he will lead the opposition from the US.
“I am the elected president, and the criminals who stole Brazil’s election are part of a criminal organization that has established a tyranny,” Bolsonaro said on X. “I will lead the opposition from here.”
Also Read: Brazil summons Argentina’s representative after Bolsonaro flees to US via Argentina
US denies role in Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil
While President Trump backed Bolsonaro and said that he and his family could be granted political asylum in the US, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the Trump administration did not help Bolsonaro leave Brazil for the United States after his election defeat to Lula da Silva.
“We didn’t facilitate anything,” Rubio told reporters in Atlanta, where top diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies were gathered.
“We had word that he had arrived in the United States. He had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country,” Rubio said, adding that the US government was not “involved directly in any of the moves that were made.”
