SAO PAULO, May 26 (Reuters) – Brazilian Senator and presidential contender Flavio Bolsonaro met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday as he looks to move past a scandal that has dented his popularity with voters ahead of Brazil’s election later this year.
The encounter took place in the Oval Office and was closed to the press, but the senator spoke to journalists at a press conference in Washington after the meeting.
The senator, the eldest son of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, said Trump asked him about his father, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his involvement in the 2022-2023 coup d’état plot in Brazil.
Senator Bolsonaro said they also discussed how both countries should address organized crime, tariffs, and interest in rare earths and critical minerals.
He was accompanied by his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lost his job as a congressman last year after missing multiple sessions of the congressional term, as well as journalist and ally Paulo Figueiredo.
A White House official confirmed the meeting took place, without providing additional details.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection in the competitive race, also met with Trump at the White House earlier this month. Shortly after that meeting, Trump praised Lula, calling the president “very dynamic” and noting the meeting had gone “very well.”
Senator Bolsonaro’s visit on Tuesday came as his campaign weathers a political crisis that has eroded his competitiveness in recent polling against the leftist incumbent ahead of October elections.
The turmoil was triggered by the senator’s acknowledgment that he had requested money to finance a film about his father from a Brazilian banker who was jailed on fraud charges.
Senator Bolsonaro has said that the negotiations for the film financing involved a private investment contract and there were no favors or impropriety. The senator had previously denied any contact with the banker.
(Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes in Sao Paulo; Additional reporting by Andre Romani in Sao Paulo and Gram Slattery in Washington; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon, Brendan O’Boyle and Jamie Freed)
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