RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro dedicated part of his traditional live stream on social networks on Thursday, December 2, to an attack on his former Minister of Justice Sergio Moro, a potential rival in the 2022 elections.
Bolsonaro said that Moro lies by saying, as he did in a radio interview on Thursday morning, that Bolsonaro celebrated the release of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from prison.
“This guy is blatantly lying. Instead of saying what he has done, he points fingers at others and lies,” the President criticized. “He is a clown, a guy with no character. He left the government through the back door, betraying us, wanting to exchange the Federal Police general director for his nomination to the Supreme Court. You learned fast, eh Sergio Moro? He learned the old politics fast,” he added.
Bolsonaro also signaled that he may disclose who leaked to the press information collected by COAF (Council for Financial Activities Control) about his family.
“I’ll disclose something about this next week. At some point, the person who leaked the COAF data to the press was discovered. And the prosecutors were laughing at the leak,” the President said, to whom members of the task force would have voted for then-candidate Fernando Haddad (PT) against him in the second round of the 2018 elections.
DISPUTE
For 2022, the government’s plan is to inject “new blood” into politics, in Bolsonaro’s words. This week, the President joined the PL, one of the main parties of the Centrão voting bloc.
The President also announced a number of allies who should take part in the 2022 elections, such as ex-senator Magno Malta (PL-ES) and Ministers Tereza Cristina (Agriculture), Onyx Lorenzoni (Labor and Social Security) and João Roma (Citizenship).
On the other hand, he said that the candidacy of Minister of Infrastructure Tarcísio de Freitas to run for the São Paulo state government is not yet certain and exposed the fight between Ministers Rogério Marinho (Regional Development) and Fábio Faria (Communications) over the support of the Planalto Palace to run for the Senate in Rio Grande do Norte.
“They are in a huge dispute,” he said. Faria is also a name listed for Vice President in Bolsonaro’s reelection bid in 2022.