Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro convicted of attempted coup

Read the Full Transcript

• Geoff Bennett:

  The former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced tonight to over 27 years in prison after a Supreme Court judgment earlier today. Bolsonaro, who was president from 2019 to 2022, was found guilty of attempting to use military force to overturn an election and plotting to assassinate a political rival, the man who holds the presidency now, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

  His trial had already led to a confrontation between Brazil's current government and the Trump administration, which could now expand.

  Here's our Nick Schifrin.

• Nick Schifrin:

  In Brazil's Supreme Court today, a historic conviction, Jair Bolsonaro, the former army captain who became Brazil's first modern right-wing president, guilty of trying to — quote — "abolish democracy" and guilty of a coup and assassination attempt on current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won the '22 election over Bolsonaro by less than 1 percent.

  The guilty verdicts detail an extensive attempt to overturn the will of the people. The culmination, Bolsonaro incited supporters to storm the seat of government and vandalize the presidential palace just days after Lula, as he's universally known, took office.

  Justice Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, Supreme Federal Court of Brazil (through interpreter): A group led by Jair Messias Bolsonaro composed of key figures from the government, the armed forces and intelligence agencies developed and implemented a progressive and systematic plan to attack democratic institutions with the aim of undermining the legitimate transfer of power in the 2022 elections.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Bolsonaro's critics call today a victory for Brazil's rule of law, a reaffirmation of the 1980s Constitution created to end two decades of dictatorship.

  But Bolsonaro's supporters — and there are many — call his prosecution political, and they vow to keep up their protests, including Bolsonaro's likely conservative successor, Sao Paulo's governor.

• Tarcísio de Freitas, Governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil (through interpreter):

  We cannot destroy democracy under the pretext of rescuing it. We also cannot tolerate a conviction without proof. A conviction without proof opens a wound that will never heal.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Bolsonaro's supporters have found a kindred spirit in President Trump, who sanctioned the justice overseeing Bolsonaro's case using laws usually reserved for human rights abuses. President Trump also raised tariffs on Brazil to 50 percent and today praised Bolsonaro.

  Donald Trump, President of the United States: I think it's a terrible thing, very terrible. I think it's very — actually, I think it's very bad for Brazil.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But President Trump's intervention failed to prevent today's verdict or convince Lula to drop his defiance.

  Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazilian President (through interpreter): We are not and we will never again be anyone's colony. We are capable of governing and caring for our land and our people without interference from any foreign government.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Tonight, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned, the U.S. will — quote — "respond accordingly to this witch-hunt."

  For a deeper look, we turn to Brian Winter, the executive vice president of the Americas Society and Councils of the Americas, nonprofit groups that seek to foster greater understanding throughout the Western Hemisphere.

  Brian Winter, thanks very much. Welcome to the "News Hour."

  Brazil's a young democracy, no stranger to coups and dictatorships. How significant is it that Bolsonaro has become the first former president to be convicted of plotting to overthrow an election?

  Brian Winter, Executive Vice President, Americas Society and Council of the Americas: It's a big day. It's a historic day for Brazil for the reasons that you cite.

  It's a country that just recovered its democracy a little more than 40 years ago. Therefore, it's especially sensitive to any kind of risk of losing it. This is also a big day for the relationship between Brazil and the United States, because, as your program just noted, we do expect there to be some sort of response from the Trump White House, which has described this whole process, this whole trial against former President Bolsonaro, his ally, as a witch-hunt.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Before I get to the U.S. and President Trump, 27 years is the sentence that just came down in the last few minutes, very significant. But does that mean that Jair Bolsonaro will spend the next 27 years in prison?

• Brian Winter:

  I think there's good reason to doubt that.

  There is a somewhat overused expression about Brazil, which is that it's not for beginners. And this is a country where what seems like finality rarely is. And as proof of that, of course, the current president, President Lula, was also sentenced to jail back in 2018 on corruption charges. He ended up serving about two years, was then released, and is now president of Brazil.

  So if you get into the business of making too many predictions, you're likely to make a mistake. And, look, it's clear that between 30, 35 percent, 40 percent of the country pretty hardcore Bolsonaro supporters who are likely to vote for whoever the candidate will be in next year's election, whether that's a member of the Bolsonaro family or perhaps another candidate such as the current governor of Sao Paulo.

• Nick Schifrin:

  As you just indicated, Brazil is deeply polarized. How will his — how will Bolsonaro's conviction and the sentence resonate through society?

• Brian Winter:

  That's a good question. I think we're going to see that now.

  I mean, I'm an American. I lived in Brazil for many years. I follow the country closely. The parallels between our countries over the last 10 years or so have sometimes been bizarre. And just as there was a period where it seemed like President Trump was on the outs after he left office in 2021 and he wasn't polling well, Bolsonaro has gone through, I think, a phase where his supporters have been feeling somewhat dejected.

  And we will see now, if with this trial and perhaps images eventually of President Bolsonaro being led away to prison after his appeals are rejected, if he fails to get house arrest, which I know his lawyers are pushing for, that may reanimate the Bolsonaro base, in the same way that some of the trials against President Trump reanimated Republican supporters who appeared ready at one point to sort of look toward other candidates.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But there is clearly a version of Bolsonaro's movement that will follow Bolsonaro after, whether he's in prison or in house arrest?

• Brian Winter:

  Well, it's a country that has become more conservative over the last 10, 20 years. Nobody contests that.

  It's a country where, for example, evangelical Christians have gone from being about 8 percent of the population in a largely Roman Catholic country in the 1980s to about 27 percent of the population today. That is part of the reason why Jair Bolsonaro was elected in 2018. And it's a 50/50 country in some ways. The last election was literally 51-49, and Lula won.

  But it's a country where a lot of the same issues of gun rights and so-called gender ideology and abortion and other topics are really animating people. And that's one of the reasons why President Trump and his allies have latched on to this case and have felt such a kinship with President Bolsonaro, is because they do see these similarities.

  There's people like Steve Bannon who go back and forth between both movements, Jason Miller, who is another member of President Trump's orbit. And so, again, I don't always like to say that what happens in Brazil is because of what's happening in the U.S., but there have been a lot of parallels over the last 10 years or so.

• Nick Schifrin:

  So, quickly, in the last 45 seconds or so we have left, let's come back to U.S. policy, as you called it, a kinship between President Trump and Bolsonaro.

  Tonight, President Trump, as we saw, criticized the conviction, Secretary of State Rubio vowing that the U.S. would respond. The U.S. already has imposed sanctions on the judge overseeing this case. If we were to see more sanctions like that, what would be the response?

• Brian Winter:

  Well, Brazil is not the only country in the world that has faced U.S. sanctions, but it is the only country in the world where those sanctions have been linked to a judicial process.

  So far, this 50 percent tariff has not changed the mind of the courts. In fact, it may have even solidified their willpower, but we will see. I mean, people in Brazil are worried about what President Trump might do next, and that will be the next chapter in this story.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Brian Winter, thank you very much.

• Brian Winter:

  Thank you.