The senator and pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, (-RJ), arrived this Monday (25/5) in Washington, capital of the United States, for a possible meeting with the president.
The meeting, if it happens, will take place at the most critical moment of Flávio’s pre-campaign for the Presidency. Voting intention surveys recorded a drop in Flávio’s ratings after the revelation that the senator asked the banker, owner of the Master bank, for money to supposedly finance a film about his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL-RJ).
BBC News Brasil followed Flávio’s trip and was on board the same flight as the senator. The report managed to speak to Flávio upon his arrival at Guarulhos International Airport — from where the flight departed towards the US capital — and during the trip.
On both occasions, Flávio avoided giving details about his possible meeting with Trump.
“I can’t give details. The advice is that we don’t say anything before the meeting takes place,” Flávio told BBC News Brasil.
Behind the scenes, advisors and parliamentarians close to the senator claim that the invitation to Flávio was made by the White House after contacts brokered by the former federal deputy (PL-SP), who has lived in the United States since last year.
BBC News Brasil contacted the United States Embassy in Brazil and the White House, but did not receive a response.
The trip
During the nine-hour journey, Flávio Bolsonaro appeared calm. Despite the crisis in his campaign, the senator was the target of harassment in the plane’s business class — he even posed for photos with a passenger.
Flávio arrived at boarding gate 318 of Terminal 3 at Guarulhos International Airport around 8:30 pm on Sunday (24/05), at the end of boarding for the flight. The senator boarded accompanied by a security guard, who traveled with him.
Boarding was quick. Flávio presented his diplomatic passport, and together with his security guard, he went ahead of the other passengers.
As gate 318 does not have a direct connection to the aircraft, Flávio and his security guard had to board a bus, standing, until they reached the plane.
On the aircraft, a Boeing 767-400, the senator went to a seat in business class, while his security guard was right behind, in the “Economy Premium” section.
Inside the aircraft, Flávio was harassed by some of the passengers and even posed for a photo with another occupant, also in business class.
In business class, the onboard service includes wine and champagne and tickets can easily exceed R$10,000.
It is not clear whether Flávio traveled on his own, whether he used the Senate’s parliamentary quota or whether he used funds from PL, his party, to pay for the trip.
Flávio stayed in a small cabin with almost complete recline. For dinner, the senator would have opted for a steak with rice, farofa and steamed cabbage. For dessert, he ordered ice cream.
Looking for a date with Trump
The nine-hour flight between São Paulo and Washington arrived in the North American capital at 6am on Monday.
The meeting with Flávio is expected to take place on Tuesday (26/5) and that the senator will return to Brazil the following day.
The expectation is that, in addition to the meeting with Trump, Flávio will have a meeting with members of the second echelon of the State Department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not be in Washington during his visit to the city. Rubio is in India while the United States negotiates a possible deal with Iran.
In charge of Flávio’s campaign, the plan is for the meeting with Trump to interrupt a sequence of negative weeks, since the revelation of the senator’s connection with banker Daniel Vorcaro.
The two most recent voting intention surveys by Datafolha and Atlas/Intel show that he registered a drop in both the first and second round simulations.
Before the case, Flávio appeared numerically ahead in the second round scenarios; now, he appears behind. The BBC News Brasil research aggregator also points out this trend.
PCC and CV on the agenda
Upon disembarking, Flávio Bolsonaro and his security guard took the line designated for passengers with diplomatic passports, as is customary for authorities, and passed through immigration.
He did not want to reveal which hotel he would stay in and whether he would meet his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro.
Questioned by BBC News Brasil, Flávio said that he did not yet have a defined agenda for the meeting with Trump and that he would align with his assistants the topics to be discussed at the meeting.
BBC News Brasil found that one of the topics that Flávio would like to address is the designation by the United States of criminal organizations such as PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorist entities.
Flávio has been defending this thesis while the Lula government counters by stating that this could be used to justify possible US military actions in Brazilian territory.
The Lula-Trump relationship
While Flávio Bolsonaro’s entourage prepares for a possible meeting with Trump, President Lula, who is also a pre-candidate for President, is cautious in the face of a meeting whose outcome could be unpredictable, according to a senior government official.
Despite the recent rapprochement between the PT member and Trump, part of the Lula government expresses distrust about whether the North American government will maintain its neutrality throughout this year’s elections.
An interlocutor of President Lula told BBC News Brasil in a reserved manner that the PT’s management does not intend to create obstacles to Flávio’s eventual visit to Trump or demand explanations from the White House about the event.
The assessment of Lula government interlocutors is that Flávio’s trip to Washington is an attempt by his pre-campaign to change the focus of suspicions about his link with Vorcaro and produce some positive agenda. Despite this, the government must monitor the meeting remotely and evaluate the signals sent by Trump during and after the meeting.
Only then, BBC News Brasil found, will the government study whether it will adopt a position.
