Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and STF Minister and TSE President Alexandre de Moraes Photo: Antonio Augusto/Secom/TSE
Jair Bolsonaro, with the help of Valdemar Costa Neto, President of the PL, reached out to an interlocutor with access to Minister Alexandre de Moraes to send a sort of “clemency plea” a few days before the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) sentenced him not eligible. The information was provided by Metrópoles columnist Rodrigo Rangel.
The attempt was made by Federal MP Antonio Carlos Rodrigues (PL). The parliamentarian is very close to Valdemar Costa Neto and is seen within the party as an intermediary between him and Moraes. It is worth noting that the Bolsonarist and the minister have known each other for some time and have a good relationship.
The request was made at a recent meeting with Valdemar in São Paulo. Previously, the former captain had authorized the application to be made on his behalf. Bolsonaro wanted Moraes to “take it easy”. He also stated that he did not take differences with the minister personally and, like Moraes, suffered from attacks and threats.
Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and STF Minister and TSE President Alexandre de Moraes Photo: reproduction
However, Bolsonaro was aware that appealing to Moraes would not work as the verdict also depended on the votes of the court’s other ministers. Against this background, too, he wanted to make the gesture of at least “slowing down” the judge in the process.
The attempt to convey the message to the judge apparently failed. As of last Thursday (29), Rodrigues had not even returned to say whether he had managed to get the message across.
During the trial, Moraes defended that the judiciary could not set “a Strauss precedent”. The theory developed in the United States deals with the offender pretending not to recognize the illegality in order to pretend not to know that a particular act would be a crime.
“The electoral judiciary, like all judiciary, may be blind, but it is not stupid. There is no way we can set ostrich precedent: everyone knows what happened, everyone knows the mechanism by which votes were won, but everyone is burying their heads in the ground,” the judge said.
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