Bolsonaro leaves the PF after testimony

After about two hours of testimony, former president Jair Bolsonaro left the headquarters of the Federal Police (PF), in Brasília. He was heard in the inquiry that investigates an attempted coup d’état that would have been articulated by Senator Marcos do Val (Podemos-ES). The inquiry was opened in February by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court Alexandre de Moraes. When questioned, the Federal Police did not reveal the content of the statement. Bolsonaro arrived at the PF around 1:40 pm. The former president began to be heard around 2 pm. Before 4:30 pm, the hearing ended. In conversation with the press on his way out, Bolsonaro denied having any connection with Marcos do Val, despite admitting to having participated in a meeting with the senator and then-federal deputy Daniel Silveira in early December. It is the content of that meeting that is being investigated by the police. Suspicions are that the three discussed a possible attempt at a coup d’état, invalidating the elections that took place just over a month earlier. “Nothing happened on the 8th of December. Also because he had no connection with Mr. Marcos do Val. As far as I can remember, I never had a meeting with him, I never received him in an audience, except perhaps for photography, which happens very often between us. So, nothing was dealt with, there was no plan”, said the former president. He stated that he remained silent throughout the meeting with the parliamentarians, both from the base of his government. “What I took away from the conversation, I was silent there, was that Daniel Silveira wanted Marcos do Val to say something. He didn’t say anything either.” The impression he claims to have of Silveira and Val is that the two were not in the habit of talking to each other, but both approached after the senator said during a public hearing that he would need to be absent for a meeting with the Minister of the Supreme Court. “Now he has [uma relação entre os dois parlamentares] after that public hearing where Marcos do Val, when he said he was going to meet with Minister Alexandre de Moraes, could extract something useful from this possible relationship between the senator and the minister”. Suspicions are that the senator wanted to record the conversation in search of a statement from the minister admitting that he had, at some point, exceeded “the four lines of the Constitution”. This admission of guilt, which never occurred on the part of the magistrate, could be used as an argument to question the result of the 2022 elections, in which Bolsonaro was defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. * Article updated at 6:31 pm to add information

Agência Brasil