Andrew Fishman is a Rio de Janeiro-based investigative journalist and president of The Intercept Brasil.
“I never thought about it “I’m leaving the country,” Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the deposed and disgraced leader, told his 16 million followers on Instagram on Monday, a day after he lost to President Luula Sáciova by more than 4 million votes.
Flavio promised to stay in Brazil during Lula’s next term to “organize the opposition.”
“I am the last obstacle in the Workers’ Party’s plan to destroy the country,” Flavio warned, referring to Lula’s party that defeated his father four years ago.
A few hours later, he left his official residence in Brasilia and sought asylum in the United States. Trump’s State Department told The Associated Press that visas would be issued to him and his family.
The parallels become obvious when you see Bolsonaro’s losers ending up in Trump’s America.
“I’m not taking sides, but this looks like another rigged election,” President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday. He echoed Flavio’s election night talking points but offered no credible evidence to cast doubt on Lula’s reversal victory – although Flavio’s party issued a statement later in the day acknowledging the results.
It’s no coincidence that the Trumps and Bolsonaros love each other so much. Their modus operandi is almost identical.
Both men packaged themselves in terms of patriotism and moral righteousness, while viewing their political positions as personal get-rich-quick schemes. And, when their lies finally catch up with them, you can be sure they’ll jump ship to save themselves and abandon their followers.
The parallels become obvious when you look at how Bolsonaro, his losers and co-conspirators all ended up in Trump’s America (Flavio is about to join his brother), and the denialism and violence that their failure has brought.
Coup and flight risk
Flavio Bolsonaro’s denial of the election and hasty escape was his version of Trump’s infamous January 6 speech: provoke the military to do its dirty work, get lost.
This is not the first time Bolsonaro has implemented such a strategy. After Jair Bolsonaro became the first modern Brazilian president to lose re-election, he refused to attend the inauguration in January 2023. Instead, he also fled to the United States, living in a Minions-themed children’s bedroom in Orlando, Florida, the home of retired UFC fighter Jose Aldo.
A week later, on January 8, the former president’s allies laid siege to the capital Brasilia, disrupting Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court, acting as foot soldiers in a larger coup plot to overthrow Lula’s government. Brazil’s nearly four decades of democracy were spared only when key military leaders blinked before completing their mission.
Jair Bolsonaro eventually returned to Brazil and was sentenced to 27 years in prison for leading a conspiracy that included plans to assassinate Lula, Vice President Gerardo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Morais. Allies, including senior military officials, were also convicted. Jair remains under house arrest – he is widely believed to have pinned his hopes of freedom on Flavio’s presidency, but this is not the case.
However, Flavio will not feel alone in America. As we revealed in The Intercept Brasil earlier this year, his brother, former Brazilian congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, just received green cards for his family and is currently living in a $1.2 million McMansion in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Southlake, Texas. Eduardo, a regular on Trump’s world tours, was sentenced in absentia to four years and two months in prison for lobbying the U.S. government to intervene in his father’s trial.
Sitting on his couch in suburban Texas, Flavio seemed ready to receive the news that he had been sentenced to prison. Our reporting at The Intercept Brasil put the first nail in the coffin for his presidential campaign in May, when we published chats and recordings of the senator negotiating $24 million (and wired $10 million) with disgraced billionaire banker Daniel Vorcaro, a Brazilian biracial.
The money was funneled to a U.S. account, allegedly to finance “Dark Horse,” a biopic about Jair Bolsonaro starring Jim Caviezel. However, Brazil’s federal police have poked holes in Flavio’s story as they investigate whether the money was actually used to fund Eduardo’s treasonous lobbying against the Trump administration to sanction Brazil and help his brother’s electoral chances.
Flavio is also under investigation for his alleged role in a multi-billion dollar money laundering scheme through an online gambling company run by Willer Tomaz. The two are not only close friends but also business partners. Flavio even had unrestricted access to one of Tomasz’s offshore bank accounts. You won’t be surprised to learn that Tomaz left Brazil in August and now lives in Miami.
Police believe Flavio will pose a flight risk following the election defeat, especially given the recent behavior of his closest colleagues. They asked Brazil’s Supreme Court to order Flavio to hand over his passport, which is allowed under Brazilian law. A senior judge granted the request and canceled the senator’s travel documents after the deadline.
By then, Flavio was gone.