Rubio Says US Did Not Help Flavio Bolsonaro Leave Brazil

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that the Trump administration did not help Flavio Bolsonaro travel from Brazil to the United States. Speaking to reporters in Atlanta, Georgia, where diplomats from the Group of 20, a forum of major economies, were meeting, Rubio said, "We didn't facilitate anything."

Rubio said the US government was not "involved directly in any of the moves that were made" in Bolsonaro's departure. He said US officials had word that Bolsonaro had arrived in the country, that he had previously held a visa, and that the president decided to allow him to enter.

Bolsonaro arrived in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, after losing the October 25 runoff election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He has refused to concede and has called the results fraudulent, without providing evidence. The State Department was asked at a press availability whether the United States had helped him flee, and the department said he and his family would be granted US visas a day before he arrived in Miami.

Bolsonaro is under investigation in Brazil on allegations of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. Before he left, police had ordered him to surrender his passport, judging him a flight risk. He travelled to the United States via Argentina and Ecuador.

He was admitted under humanitarian parole, a temporary form of entry granted on humanitarian grounds, which typically lasts for one year. President Donald Trump told reporters at his Florida residence that Bolsonaro can stay "as long as he wants," and said he had been treated "very shabbily."

Rubio said he had seen Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday, and that he expected to meet Brazilian officials again in November in France.

Earlier, on July 31, Rubio announced US sanctions, financial and travel penalties imposed by one government on individuals, against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.