Did the president talk to Bolsonaro as the Brazilian plotted to escape? Trump said yes, but the White House isn’t so sure.
By Steve Benen
It’s been a couple of months since former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting what was effectively a coup after his reelection defeat a few years ago. Conditions for the authoritarian leader known as the “Trump of the Tropics” went from bad to worse over the weekend, when Bolsonaro was arrested again, this time accused of plotting to escape from house arrest days before his 27-year prison sentence was scheduled to begin.
But the closer one looks at this story, the more important the White House angle becomes.
On Friday night, Bolsonaro’s son publicly encouraged the former president’s supporters to come to his home for some kind of previously unannounced protest. Hours later, early Saturday morning, law enforcement officials were notified that Bolsonaro’s ankle monitor had been tampered with. Though it was still on, Brazil’s former president had taken a soldering iron to his tracking device after his son had summoned a crowd to the family’s home.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers said he wasn’t trying to flee (notwithstanding earlier efforts to find a country to escape to) but rather, the former Brazilian president felt unwell because of the medications he was on.
So according to his own defenders, this guy took a soldering iron to his ankle monitor because some drugs left him confused.
And it was around this time that the story got even weirder.
On midday Saturday, just hours after Bolsonaro was re-arrested, Trump held a brief Q&A with reporters on the White House South Lawn, where a reporter asked about Bolsonaro.
“I spoke last night to the gentleman you just referred to, and we’re going to be meeting, I believe, in the very near future,” the Republican said.
When the same reporter told the American president that Bolsonaro had just been arrested again, Trump seemed taken aback. “What?” he replied. Told again about the overnight developments, Trump said he hadn’t heard about it, adding, “That’s too bad.”
But it was the Republican’s initial response that stood out. Trump himself claimed to have spoken to Bolsonaro on Friday night — the same evening the former Brazilian president took a soldering iron to his ankle monitor — and made plans to meet Bolsonaro “in the very near future.”
Of course, given the Brazilian was on house arrest and poised to begin a lengthy prison sentence, it was far from clear how, exactly, Trump intended to hang out with him. For all intents and purposes, it would suggest that Trump either was going to make a previously unannounced trip to Brazil, or the American president expected Bolsonaro to make his way to the U.S.
But wait, there’s more.
On Monday afternoon, a reporter asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt whether Trump did, in fact, speak with Bolsonaro on Friday night. “Not to my knowledge,” she replied. “I don’t know if that call took place or not.”
So let’s recap:
Friday night: Bolsonaro’s son summons a crowd to their family home.
Later Friday night: Bolsonaro takes a soldering iron to his ankle monitor.
Saturday morning: Bolsonaro is re-arrested.
Saturday afternoon: Trump says he spoke to Bolsonaro the night before and planned to see the Brazilian leader “in the very near future.”
Monday afternoon: The White House isn’t sure whether Trump actually had the conversation he publicly referenced two days earlier.
I can appreciate on a personal level how easy it is to grow inured to the madness surrounding our incumbent American president. But even by Trump standards, this one’s a doozy.