US State Department says it did not aid Bolsonaro’s US travel

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration did not facilitate former Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure to the United States after his election defeat.

Bolsonaro arrived in Miami on Wednesday, a day after the State Department announced that he and his family would be granted U.S. visas following his loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“We didn’t facilitate anything,” Rubio told reporters in Atlanta, where G20 diplomats 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.” He added that the U.S. government was not directly involved in any of the moves made.

Rubio noted he had met Brazil’s foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, in Atlanta and expected to see Brazilian officials again in France in November for a foreign ministers’ meeting.

Flávio Bolsonaro has refused to concede, claiming the election was fraudulent, while his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27‑year sentence for an attempted coup. The younger Bolsonaro is under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion and was ordered to surrender his passport as a flight risk.

Source: ABC News. Photo: Chris F / Pexels.