RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After an audio leak on alleged coordination to change the PSL leader in the Chamber, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday, October 17th, that if someone “tapped” him, it was an act of dishonesty.
“I will not publicly address this issue. I will discuss it individually. If someone has tapped a phone, it is dishonesty first and foremost,” said the president.
On Wednesday night, October 16th, a group of 27 deputies from the PSL decided to dismiss the leader of the bench in the Chamber, Delegate Waldir, replacing him with Eduardo Bolsonaro. Deputies of the PSL linked to the party president, federal deputy Luciano Bivar, submitted a new list, to keep Delegate Waldir in office, and triggered a “war of lists”.
The request for the change of PSL leader in the Chamber was made by President Jair Bolsonaro himself, who spoke with PSL deputies and called for support for his son “#3”, Eduardo Bolsonaro. On Tuesday, October 15th, Delegate Waldir had directed the PSL bench to vote against a Provisional Measure that dealt with the administrative restructuring of the Cabinet and the Government Secretariat.
The recorded conversation, attributed to the president, in which he requested support to overthrow Delegate Waldir, was released on Wednesday night by the press. “I spoke with some deputies. They recorded me? Did they play journalist? I speak to the deputies,” Bolsonaro said.
Asked if he will call for an investigation into the leak, Bolsonaro walked out of his talk with the press in front of Palácio da Alvorada, where the president usually takes selfies with fans and talks to and answers questions from journalists.
Crisis
Bolsonaro began the crisis in the party last week by asking a militant to “forget the PSL” and saying that Luciano Bivar, the party’s president, was “burned out”. Since then, the party has been torn between the pro-Bivar and the pro-Bolsonaro group.
On Tuesday, a search and seizure operation triggered by the Federal Police at addresses linked to Bivar, in Recife, aggravated the crisis within the party and threatens to hinder the progress of projects of interest to the Palácio do Planalto in Congress.
Source: Estadão Conteúdo