US to Grant Visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and Family After Reports He Left Brazil

A senior official at the US State Department has said the Trump administration will issue visas to Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and his family, allowing them to enter the United States. The announcement followed news reports that Bolsonaro had left Brazil after losing the country's presidential election.

The statement came on Tuesday, one day after Brazil's Supreme Court ordered the senator to hand over his passports as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing. On Monday, he said he would remain in Brazil and lead the opposition.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who won the election, sharply criticized the senator's reported departure and called it shameful. "This is what the Bolsonaro family is like," Lula said. "Brazil is their second nation, the US is their first."

Lula has previously accused members of the Bolsonaro family of inviting US interference in Brazilian affairs for their own political benefit.

Flavio Bolsonaro is the son of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro. After the vote, he initially declined to acknowledge the outcome and said he would seek to have the results annulled. On Monday, however, his party issued a statement saying it accepted the election results. The conservative candidate lost by more than 4.4 million votes.

US President Donald Trump responded by casting doubt on the outcome. Speaking to reporters, he said the contest "looked like another rigged election."

No evidence has emerged that the vote was tainted by malfeasance. Critics pointed to a last-minute decision to extend polling hours, but Lula's eventual victory was commanding, and the extension was unlikely to have changed the result.