BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s federal police searched former President Jair Bolsonaro’s house and political headquarters on Friday, adding to legal pressure that U.S. President Donald Trump has tried to end by threatening a steep tariff on Brazilian goods.
Local media reported that Bolsonaro had been ordered to wear an ankle bracelet, stop using social media and cease communications with his son Eduardo, a Brazilian lawmaker who has been lobbying in Washington to help his father.
Bolsonaro’s press office reported the searches but gave no further details. Police in a statement said they had issued search warrants ordered by the country’s Supreme Court, but did not name Bolsonaro, who governed Latin America’s largest country from 2019 to 2022.
Trump has pressed Brazil to stop a legal case against Bolsonaro, saying that his former ally was the victim of a “witch hunt”.
Bolsonaro, who was friendly with Trump when they were both in office, is on trial before Brazil’s Supreme Court on charges of plotting a coup to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023.
Trump, who last week said he would impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods, posted on Truth Social on Thursday a letter he sent to Bolsonaro. “I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you,” he wrote.
(Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes; editing by Barbara Lewis, Brad Haynes, Philippa Fletcher)
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