Mother of all scandals: “King” Bolsonaro and cabinet caught with their pants down
On Apr 22, Brazil was fast becoming a new coronavirus flashpoint, but President Jair Bolsonaro and his cabinet barely mentioned the pandemic in a videotaped meeting that has triggered outrage and fuelled a potentially explosive investigation.
Indeed, one of the few mentions of COVID-19 in the video - released on Friday (May 22) as part of a probe into whether the far-right president obstructed justice by firing the federal police chief - was when the environment minister said the government should take advantage of the distraction created by the pandemic to relax the country's environmental protection rules.
Littered with obscenities, insults, tirades and potentially incriminating statements, the video triggered outcry in Brazil, where many questioned the government's policy-making amid a pandemic that has killed more than 22,000 people in the country.
The video's existence emerged when popular justice minister Sergio Moro resigned two days after the meeting, accusing Bolsonaro of inappropriate “political interference” in the federal police.
Police are reportedly investigating multiple cases involving Bolsonaro and his inner circle, including allegations his son Carlos, a Rio de Janeiro city councilor, oversaw a fake-news campaign to benefit his father.
In the video, Bolsonaro rails against the federal police for failing to give him information and says, “I'm not going to wait for them to f**k my family and friends.”
However, other material contained in the nearly unedited footage could prove just as damaging to Bolsonaro, who faces growing disapproval ratings 18 months into his four-year term.
Bolsonaro called two state governors a “piece of s**t” and “pile of manure” for defying him by imposing coronavirus stay-at-home measures.
His education minister called for the Supreme Court justices to be thrown in jail for giving states the final say in the matter. His women's minister said governors and mayors should be arrested, too.
