Former President Bolsonaro's son to seek political asylum in the US after fleeing political persecution in Brazil

Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and a deputy in Brazil's Congress, announced Tuesday that he will formally request political asylum in the United States after alleging that the country's current political powers are persecuting both him and his father. In a video posted on his X account, Bolsonaro explained that the decision to stay in the North American country and temporarily retire from his position as a federal lawmaker in Brazil has been the most difficult of his life.

The Brazilian right-wing leader, who has a close relationship with the Trump family and has even visited President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago mansion, claimed to be the victim of attacks by Brazil's Federal Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who has been overseeing the criminal case against the former president during these last months. "If Alexandre de Moraes wants to seize my passport or even arrest me so that I can no longer report his crimes in the United States, then this is precisely where I will stay and work harder than ever," Bolsonaro explained in the video.

Bolsonaro claims his father could be assassinated

The 40-year-old politician has been in the United States since late February, just when different Brazilian media revealed that the Federal Supreme Court was evaluating to indefinitely withhold his passport following several accusations that he allegedly tried to interfere in the case about his father's alleged role in a coup plot after losing the last 2022 presidential election against socialist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Following the video's post on his X account, the Brazilian prosecutor issued a statement in which he stressed that he has not been requesting the former president's son's passport.

During an interview with Republican leader Matt Gaetz, Bolsonaro commented on his decision to request political asylum in the United States, although he has not made the formal request. He will meet with his team of lawyers to determine the exact moment when he will do so, assuring that the only certainty is that he will not be able to return to his country for an indefinite period of time. Similarly, Bolsonaro explained that his father is currently at risk of being unjustly imprisoned by the court, assuring that he could even be killed if he goes to prison.

"I have no doubt that our enemies’ plan is to incarcerate him, to assassinate him in prison or leave him there forever, just as would have happened with Donald Trump if he had not been re-elected in 2024," detailed the former Brazilian president's son.