Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes may prohibit former President Jair Bolsonaro from attending the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump. He has already seized the Brazilian populist leader’s passport.
Bolsonaro demanded the return of his passport after allegedly receiving an invitation to attend the inauguration on January 20, but Justice Moraes stated that Bolsonaro needs to provide further proof of an official invitation for the request to be considered.
The invite presented by Bolsonaro came from his son Eduardo, who received an email invitation to the inauguration in Washington, D.C., but Justice Moraes argued that it was not enough. Former president Bolsonaro is under several investigations in Brazil.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has heavily criticized Supreme Court Justice de Moraes. Last year, the judge temporarily banned X (formerly Twitter) from operating in Brazil. Moraes demanded that X censor accounts on the platform, which were supposedly linked to “digital militias” spreading supposed “fake news” and “misinformation” during Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency.
X and Musk refused to censor the accounts and announced that they would lay off all their staff in Brazil and shut down all operations. Justice de Moraes demanded that X name a legal representative, but Musk said that Brazil had threatened to arrest one of its legal representatives in the past.
The ban was lifted just over a month after its imposition when Justice Moraes announced that X could resume its services as long as it was compliant with Brazilian laws.