Flávio Bolsonaro Lands in Miami as Donald Trump Approves His Refuge and Calls Brazil's Election "Very Strange"

 

Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro landed in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, October 28, with his family, hours after United States President Donald Trump said he approved of the move and called Brazil's election "very strange."

Bolsonaro touched down at Opa-locka Executive Airport near Miami, according to reports from the scene, after fleeing Brazil in defiance of a court order. A senior United States State Department official said the United States would grant entry visas to Bolsonaro and his family, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

"I would approve," Donald Trump says

"Well, I would approve," Donald Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on his return from a campaign trip to Texas, when asked about Flávio Bolsonaro coming to the United States.

"I think they're fine people. The election was very strange, and I thought it was terrible. It's gotten bad reviews. You look at what happened to their market," Donald Trump said.

"I didn't take sides, you know. I know them both. I know Lula. I know Flavio a little bit. I know the father very well," Donald Trump added, referring to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whom he has previously described as a victim of judicial persecution in Brazil.

"The father was treated really badly. I thought, but I wasn't involved," Donald Trump said. "That's Brazil. It's a different country."

Why Flávio Bolsonaro fled Brazil

Flávio Bolsonaro, a Brazilian senator, lost Sunday's presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the 81-year-old leftist incumbent, after leading in the first round and entering the runoff as the favorite. He has refused to concede and initially pledged to seek an annulment of the election, citing "foul play."

Days before his flight, a Brazilian judge — Supreme Federal Court Vice-President Alexandre de Moraes — ordered Flávio Bolsonaro to surrender his passports and barred him from leaving the country, as part of a criminal investigation into his alleged involvement in a money laundering scheme. Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil instead, with his wife and two daughters.

His brother Eduardo Bolsonaro was already living in the United States before his arrival. Donald Trump has long been close to the Bolsonaro family: he backed Jair Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula da Silva in 2022, and has repeatedly attacked the Brazilian courts over cases involving the family.

What happens next

Flávio Bolsonaro has not conceded defeat, and his arrival in the United States sets up a new diplomatic flashpoint between Washington and Brasília. Lula da Silva's government has not yet said publicly whether it will seek his return, but the passport order he defied remains in force in Brazil, and the criminal investigation behind it continues.

For Donald Trump, the embrace is also a campaign message days before the November 3 midterm elections: a defeated ally welcomed in Florida, and a foreign election dismissed as "very strange" — the same language he used when he called Brazil's result rigged earlier in the week.