The senator (PL) said this Tuesday (26) that he was on his way to the White House, the US president’s workplace, after allies of the PL presidential pre-candidate said he would have a meeting with .
There was officially no meeting between Trump and Flávio.
“I’m going to the White House,” Flávio told reporters as he left the Willard hotel in Washington.
The senator was with the former federal deputy and businessman Paulo Figueiredo, as well as a security team. Earlier, when asked about a possible meeting between Flávio and Trump, Eduardo replied “in the afternoon, in the afternoon”, without giving details.
The relationship between the president and the presidential pre-candidate was announced last week by the senator’s allies, despite there being no official confirmation from the White House.
Flávio arrived in Washington on Monday (25) and is staying at the hotel whose daily rate starts at US$500 (around R$2,500).
According to businessman Paulo Figueiredo, who is not staying at the same hotel, but spent part of the morning there, Flávio’s team requested a press conference from the Brazilian embassy for an interview with journalists. The embassy, however, did not respond and the interview was scheduled for another location.
He avoided confirming the agenda with Trump, but said he expected Itamaraty to act “in a republican way”, and not “politically”. Although he does not elaborate, the businessman allied with the Bolsonaro family states that Flávio is in the city for a series of meetings and that one of the main topics presented is the request for the CV (Comando Vermelho) and PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) to be classified by the US as “foreign terrorist organizations”.
Figueiredo said that there is already documentation delivered to the American authorities and stated that the group of politicians, which includes former federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, is trying to “reverse” an alleged action by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the issue.
Lula, who was in the US three weeks ago, stated that the designation of factions as terrorists was not present at the meeting on May 7, but that a proposal for cooperation between the US and Brazil to combat organized crime was presented.
In addition to Eduardo and Paulo, PL deputies were also waiting for the agenda in the hotel lobby. The state deputy of Minas Gerais, Cristiano Caporezzo, also stated that one of the issues that will be addressed is public safety. “The Lula government is reluctant to take the obvious and necessary stance of categorizing organized crime in Brazil, especially PCC and Comando Vermelho, as terrorist organizations,” he said.
“What I can tell you is that the next president of the Republic, Flávio Bolsonaro, does not have this resistance. Quite the contrary, tolerance will be zero against crime, it will be a fight in the style of Bukele’s El Salvador, and this issue will certainly be dealt with in the White House”, said Caporezzo.
Meeting in the midst of crisis
The possible meeting between the senator and the American government takes place in the midst of a delicate moment in the campaign. As revealed by the website The Intercept Brasil, Flávio asked Vorcaro for resources to finance the film “Dark Horse”, about his father, the former president (PL). The businessman invested R$61 million in production. Since then, the senator has tried to contain the political damage from the episode and faces a crisis of trust among allies.
In the first Datafolha survey released after the repercussion of the case, President Lula increased his advantage over Flávio from three to nine percentage points in a simulation of the first round: 40% to 31%.
Although unusual, this would not be the first time that Trump has welcomed a foreign politician who does not hold the position of head of state to the White House.
Last year, the republican received Karol Nawrocki, then candidate for President of Poland, before the first round of elections in the country. After the meeting, Nawrocki said Trump told him, “You’re going to win.” The meeting provoked criticism in Poland and accusations of American interference in the electoral process.
Any meeting with Flávio would be less than three weeks after Trump received Lula at the White House for a three-hour working visit.
According to reports from both governments, the meeting had a positive outcome. Commercial tariffs were discussed, a bilateral working table was created and Brazil presented a proposal for cooperation in the area of public security.
After the Brazilian president’s last visit to the White House, Lula reiterated that he did not believe in Trump’s interference in the Brazilian electoral process and stated that he trusted in the mutual respect between the two countries on this issue.
