Former federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) gave an interview to the American broadcaster Fox Newspublished this Saturday (14), in which he defended the pre-candidacy of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) for the Presidency of the Republic in this year’s elections, stated that the objective is to defeat President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and criticized the decisions of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), especially in the case that resulted in the conviction of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
“Many polls show my brother tied and some show that he is a little ahead… Flávio has just launched his candidacy”, he declared. Eduardo mentioned in the interview that his brother’s nomination to run in the future presidential election was made after former president Bolsonaro “recognized that he could not run in the election”.
“It was a great decision that Jair Bolsonaro made, recognizing that it would be impossible for him to run in the October election, for sure, because he is in prison now. Unfairly, but he is. That is a fact.”
In the interview, Eduardo maintained that Flávio’s future campaign strategy will be focused on the economy and public security.
“Flávio’s strategy is to show how bad the Lula government is, especially in the economy and also in security,” said the former deputy. He added that “everyone is fed up with Lula supporting Hamas, increasing crime and not doing a good job in the economy.”
Eduardo minimized the possibility of right-wing fragmentation favoring Lula in the electoral dispute. “It doesn’t matter who goes to the second round; against Lula, everyone will be together. Because we all know that the worst thing that can happen to the country is the re-election of Lula da Silva”, he stated. Eduardo classified as a “lie” the possibility of Lula winning in the first round of the election if there is a division of votes between right-wing candidates. According to the former deputy, the presence of several names in the right-wing camp could increase criticism of the Lula government.
“It’s great that we have more right-wing candidates. Why? Because they will all criticize Lula. So, even Flávio is saying publicly that it would be good to support more and more right-wing candidates against Lula,” he said.
When commenting on the current situation of former president Bolsonaro, Eduardo again denounced that his conviction was politically motivated.
“If he hadn’t been sentenced to 27 years in prison, he would be free to run and would certainly be the next president of Brazil. That’s the only reason he’s in prison: for political reasons,” he declared. He recalled that Bolsonaro was not in Brazil during the events of January 8, 2023. “On the same day… Jair Bolsonaro was in Orlando, at Disney,” he said.
The former president was convicted by the STF last year for an alleged attempted coup d’état as part of investigations into an alleged articulation that would have sought to prevent Lula’s inauguration after the 2022 elections and culminated in the acts of January 8.
Eduardo also criticized, in the interview, President Lula’s veto of the so-called Dosimetry PL, approved by Congress, which could change sentencing criteria and benefit those convicted in the processes related to the acts of January 8, including former president Bolsonaro. In the same speech, Eduardo also criticized the STF.
“Everything that the Supreme Court doesn’t like, they say is against our Constitution. It’s the way they try to take all power over the Legislative and, sometimes, even the Executive. So, this is another chapter in this long invasion of the Judiciary… Lula da Silva vetoing this project approved by Congress just shows that he is always talking to the left bubble, he is talking to the radical left”, he stated.
Eduardo also said that, if Flávio is elected, he could grant a presidential pardon to his father and other convicts.
“Now I only have one role… elect Flávio Bolsonaro, and he will pardon Jair. Not only Jair, but also me”, he said, remembering that he also became the target of lawsuits in Brazil for having gone to the US to denounce the arbitrariness of the Judiciary against members of the Brazilian right.
According to Eduardo, STF minister Alexandre de Moraes would have held his name responsible for sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump’s government last year. Moraes, his wife and their institution were punished by the US in 2025, but the sanctions against them were lifted months after being issued.
“The Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes, who was sanctioned by the Trump administration with the support of Scott Bessent (Secretary of the Treasury) and Marco Rubio (Secretary of State), blames me for this. But since he doesn’t have the courage to prosecute Trump, Bessent and Rubio, he is suing me for it,” he declared.
