Ally claims Bolsonaro plotted coup to block Lula presidency

A Brazilian magazine on Thursday released audio of a senator claiming thenPresident Jair Bolsonaro sought help in a plot to annul the October elections and keep himself in power.

In the recording, Sen. Marcos do Val tells the magazine Veja that the idea was discussed when he met with Bolsonaro and lawmaker Daniel Silveira on Dec. 9 at the presidential residence, three weeks before leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was set to take office.

Do Val, who was an ally during Bolsonaro’s fouryear term, said the farright leader gave him the “mission” of recording Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who also heads Brazil’s electoral authority, while trying to get the judge to admit he overstepped his powers under the constitution.

“‘I annul the election, Lula isn’t sworn in, I stay in the presidency and arrest Alexandre de Moraes because of his comments,’ ” do Val quotes Bolsonaro as saying.

Veja released the audio in response to denials the senator issued following the magazine’s report Thursday morning about the purported plot, which had not cited him as its source. Do Val told reporters after the magazine published its story that the plot had been Silveira’s idea and that the former president hadn’t said a word during the meeting.

Later Thursday, de Moraes ordered the Federal Police to take do Val’s sworn testimony within five days. Bolsonaro, who has been keeping a low profile in Florida since

Dec. 30, did not comment on the matter on any of his social media channels.

The alleged meeting adds to the growing list of woes for Bolsonaro, who is already under investigation for his possible role in his supporters’ uprising in the Brazilian capital on Jan. 8.

Bolsonaro cast doubt on the nation’s electronic voting system for months in the lead-up to the election, and then refused to concede defeat. His diehard supporters have accused de Moraes of rigging the election in Lula’s favor, and of overstepping his authority by blocking social media accounts and ordering allegedly arbitrary arrests and searches.