President Donald Trump said Saturday, October 31, 2026, that defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro "can stay here as long as he wants," as relations between Brazil and the United States remain strained. According to The Hindu, Trump made the remarks to reporters at a Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Trump also criticized the election. "In my opinion, the election was a disgrace," he said, adding that Bolsonaro "got treated very shabbily." Bolsonaro lost the October 25 run-off to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, despite leading in most opinion polls, according to Al Jazeera.
According to Reuters, as cited by The Hindu and Rappler, Bolsonaro was admitted to the United States under humanitarian parole, a status that typically lasts one year. That detail comes from earlier Reuters reporting and has not been confirmed in the other sources.
Bolsonaro faces a pair of federal money-laundering probes in Brazil, according to Rappler. A Brazilian Supreme Court justice revoked his passport shortly after his loss, and police considered him a flight risk.
The US role in his departure is disputed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US government "was not involved directly in any of the moves" that led to Bolsonaro leaving Brazil, according to Al Jazeera. Reuters and several other outlets, as reported by Rappler and Al Jazeera, said Jason Miller, a White House official, helped arrange the journey. Neither the White House nor Miller has responded to those reports.
Flavio Bolsonaro’s father, Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former president, is imprisoned in Brazil for plotting a coup after losing his 2022 re-election bid. Outside observers described the Brazilian election as free and fair. Bolsonaro refused to concede and called the results fraudulent without providing evidence.
Lula spent 17 months in jail in 2018 and 2019 on corruption charges that were later annulled.
Rubio said he expects to see Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira at a G7 foreign ministers’ summit in France next month, with Brazil attending as an observer. Trump said he has no plans to meet Bolsonaro, and a US official said there are no current plans to back Bolsonaro’s political ambitions.
The Brazilian embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment. Sources also differ on the investigations against Bolsonaro, with Al Jazeera and Rappler describing them in different terms, and the reporting does not clarify the full list of charges.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.