Rubio Sets the Record Straight: Trump Opened the Door for Flávio Bolsonaro, But America Didn’t Run the Escape
Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it plain in Atlanta: the United States did not orchestrate Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil after his defeat in the presidential runoff and the Supreme Court order to seize his passport.
“We were not involved in any of the arrangements he made in terms of leaving. At least the U.S. government was not involved directly in any of the moves that were made,” Rubio said.
The distinction matters. Flávio, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and the right’s standard-bearer against Lula, faced the familiar pattern of judicial pressure from Alexandre de Moraes and the Brazilian left. He left the country and reached a U.S. port of entry. What happened next was simple presidential discretion, not covert extraction.
“But the president made clear that if he arrived in the United States in a port of entry, that he would be paroled into the country, and he was,” Rubio confirmed.