Brazilian court denies Bolsonaro’s request to travel to Trump’s inauguration

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday denied a request by former President Jair Bolsonaro to temporarily restore his passport so that he could attend the inauguration in Washington of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump next week.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who Bolsonaro frequently has called his personal foe, said in the ruling that Bolsonaro currently holds no position that would allow him to represent Brazil at the event and that the former president did not adequately prove to the court that he had been invited.

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Bolsonaro, under several wide-ranging investigations including over an alleged attempt to stay in office despite his electoral defeat, had his passport seized by federal police last February because he was considered a flight risk. He denies the allegations against him.

Bolsonaro responded to the verdict Thursday on X by accusing Brazil’s judicial system of political persecution against him, comparing his situation to legal cases in the U.S. against Trump. He said that Trump "overcame the judicial activism. I too will overcome it."

The former Brazilian president had requested permission to leave the country from Jan. 17 to 22 to attend the inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20 and a Hispanic inaugural ball. Bolsonaro, an outspoken admirer of Trump, said on his social media channels on Jan. 8 that he was "very happy with this invitation."

"I’ll be representing the conservative, the right-wing, the good, the Brazilian people there in the United States, God willing," Bolsonaro said.

When de Moraes asked Bolsonaro’s lawyers for evidence of his invitation on Saturday, they forwarded an invitation letter signed by inauguration committee co-chairs Steve Witkoff and Kelly Loeffler.

Still, de Moraes argued that Bolsonaro had not adequately proven that he was invited to the inauguration. In the ruling, de Moraes followed the recommendation of Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who said Wednesday that Bolsonaro's private interest in the trip did not outweigh the public interest in prohibiting him from traveling abroad.

De Moraes said Bolsonaro remains a flight risk and added that the former president has advocated that his supporters who face legal troubles in cases involving their political allegiance should leave the country and seek asylum. Hundreds of Bolsonaro's supporters involved in Jan. 8, 2023 riots in capital Brasilia have left Brazil to avoid prosecution.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will not attend Trump’s inauguration.

Federal police seized Bolsonaro’s passport in Feb. 2024, during a raid related to the investigation into whether he and top aides plotted to ignore the 2022 election results and stage an uprising to keep the defeated right-wing leader in power.

Brazil’s Supreme Court previously has denied a Bolsonaro request to retrieve his passport, in March 2024, following an invitation from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last November, federal police formally accused Bolsonaro and 36 others, including high-ranking military officers, of attempting a coup. Gonet, the prosecutor-general, will decide whether to charge Bolsonaro or toss the investigation.

Legal experts believe Bolsonaro could be charged and stand trial in the second half of 2025 at the Supreme Court for allegedly falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination status. Analysts also say there’s a reasonable chance he stands trial before 2026 over allegedly embezzling jewels gifted by Saudi Arabian authorities.

The former president denies that he tried to stay in office after his narrow electoral defeat in 2022 to his leftist opponent, Lula.

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The Brazilian ambassador to the U.S., Maria Luiza Viotti, will attend Trump’s inauguration, the government told The Associated Press on Thursday. President Lula was not officially invited to the ceremony.

Trump has invited some global leaders to his inauguration, including China’s President Xi Jinping and Argentina’s President Javier Milei.