The Guardian (USA)

Brazil: Bolsonaro says his phones were hacked amid fallout over leaked chats

- Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro

Mobile phones used by Jair Bolsonaro were accessed by a group of hackers who also targeted a senior judge and prosecutor­s leading a sweeping anti-corruption investigat­ion, Brazil’s farright president said on Thursday.

“I was informed by the Federal Police and @JusticaGov­BR (the Justice Ministry) that my cell phones were invaded by the gang arrested on Tuesday, 23. A serious attempt against Brazil and its institutio­ns. May they be harshly punished! Brazil is no longer land without law,” he tweeted.

The news comes after a political storm was unleashed by a series of articles based on leaked conversati­ons – mostly on the messaging app Telegram – between the justice minister, Sérgio Moro, and other officials.

The reports were published by the investigat­ive website the Intercept and Brazilian outlets. They showed that, while still a judge, Moro had advised prosecutor­s in the corruption prosecutio­n of the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

That sentence removed Lula from the election, after which Bolsonaro named Moro as justice minister.

Four people were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly

Moro’s phone and others.

On Thursday, Folha de S.Paulo reported that one of them – Walter Delgatti hacking Neto – told federal police that he had anonymousl­y sent the compromisi­ng chats from the hacked phones to the Intercept’s founder, Glenn Greenwald, but had not demanded payment.

Federal police declined to comment.

Greenwald said this confirmed “everything we’ve said from the beginning about how we obtained this material: simply passively receiving the already-obtained informatio­n and then reported on it”.

Neto faces separate court charges of embezzleme­nt, robbery, drug traffickin­g and use of a false document, Folha reported.

Brazilian media has reported that Bolsonaro insists on using a common cellphone instead of the encrypted phone given to him by intelligen­ce services because it does not work with the social media services, such as Twitter and WhatsApp, that he uses so avidly.

On Thursday, Bolsonaro sought to reassure Brazilians that he never dealt with national security, diplomacy or other sensitive issues on his mobile.

“I always took care with strategic informatio­n,” he told reporters. “They wasted time with me.”

 ??  ?? Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia. The president is facing controvers­y over reports that his justice minister played a role in the prosecutio­n of Bolsonaro’s election rival. Photograph: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images
Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia. The president is facing controvers­y over reports that his justice minister played a role in the prosecutio­n of Bolsonaro’s election rival. Photograph: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images

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