Trump Treasury Adopts Biden Admin Posture towards Brazil’s Weaponization of Courts Towards Jair Bolsonaro
The Trump administration has lifted sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who led the investigation and conviction of former President Jair Bolsonaro on coup-plot charges.
This move reverses earlier U.S. actions under President Trump that targeted de Moraes for alleged judicial abuses against Bolsonaro, a key ally once dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics.” The decision comes days after Brazil’s lower house advanced a bill to slash Bolsonaro’s 27-year sentence to under three years, prompting the Treasury to deem continued sanctions “inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy interests.”
Brazil’s Minister of Institutional Relations Gleisi Hoffmann praised the lifting of sanctions against Judge de Moraes as “a victory for Brazil and Lula.” Hoffmann framed the reversal as a “great defeat” for Bolsonaro’s family, whom she labeled “traitors who have conspired against Brazil and the judiciary.” In July, the Trump State Department had sanctioned de Moraes’ support network under the Global Magnitsky Act for “abusing his judicial authority to target political opponents,” alongside imposing tariffs on Brazil. The sanctions extended to de Moraes’ wife and her Lex Institute before their removal Friday.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed the Brazilian legislative move on X, stating the U.S. “consistently expressed concern over efforts to use the legal process to weaponize political differences in Brazil” and views the bill as “a first step towards addressing these abuses.” A senior Trump official noted the change aligns with improving “lawfare conditions” in Brazil following the amnesty bill’s lower house passage. The bill now heads to the Senate for approval, then to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s rival, for signature—potentially sparking a standoff.
Mainstream media outlets like the BBC and JP describe the U.S. decision to lift sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes as a natural warming of relations between the U.S. and Brazil. They tie it to a recent “great” phone call between President Trump and Brazilian President Lula da Silva, which focused on trade and other issues, while downplaying how this marks a shift away from Trump’s earlier defense of former President Jair Bolsonaro against claims of judicial overreach or “weaponization” in Brazil’s courts.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the former president and a key lobbyist in the U.S., expressed disappointment over the reversal, blaming it on a lack of unity among Brazil’s right-wing groups. He vowed to keep pushing for his father’s cause, including efforts to secure his release from prison.
Overall, this quick turnaround, just five months after the sanctions were imposed, suggests that Trump’s Treasury Department is now adopting a stance similar to the Biden administration’s previous approach, which generally supported Brazil’s judicial actions against conservatives like Bolsonaro without such confrontational measures.