Bolsonaro denies intervention in Federal Police

President Jair Bolsonaro delivered an address at the Planalto presidential palace rebutting the accusations made by former Minister Sergio Moro, who announced his resignation from the Justice Ministry on Friday (Apr. 24).

Joined by his minister, Bolsonaro spoke for 46 minutes and denied he had asked Moro to interfere in probes conducted by the Federal Police.

“The allegations according to which I wished to know about ongoing investigations are not true. In the nearly 16 months he led the Ministry of Justice, Mr. Sergio Moro knows I never contacted him in order to interfere in probes being conducted,” he said.

At another point, he declared: “Would you call nearly ordering, or begging, Sergio Moro to investigate who mandated the killing of Jair Bolsonaro an intervention in the Federal Police? Sergio Moro’s Federal Police is more concerned about Marielle [Franco, murdered city councilor] than its supreme chief? I demanded that from him a lot, [but] I didn’t interfere.”

On Moro’s decision to leave the government after Bolsonaro fired Federal Police General-Director Maurício Valeixo, named by the former justice minister, the president mentioned his legal prerogative of appointing and firing whoever he sees fit.

“There were talks about my interference in the Federal Police. Well, if I can change ministers, why wouldn’t I be allowed, under the law, to change the director of the Federal Police? I don’t need anyone’s permission to change the director of anyone who’s part of the hierarchical pyramid of the Executive branch,” he said.

In the speech announcing his departure from the government, Moro said Bolsonaro intended to bring in someone he himself trusted as director of the Federal Police. “He clearly told me, more than once, that he wanted someone he had personal contact with as director-general of the Federal Police, someone he could call, collect information and intelligence accounts from. This is really not the role of the Federal Police,” Moro stated.

Bolsonaro responded by saying that, as president, he can directly address other federal officials, including those subordinate to his ministers. “The day I have to submit to any one of my employees, I’m no longer president. I told him I wanted a police chief […] I could interact with. Why not? I interact with the intelligence agencies of the Armed Forces, I interact with Abin [the Brazilian Intelligence Agency], I interact with anyone in the government. I always seek the minister, but I speak directly with the highest official in that ministry if I have to,” he declared.

Disagreement

According to Bolsonaro, Police Commissioner Maurício Valeixo was tired, and the swap had been agreed on in talks with Sergio Moro. “I said it was time we should put an end to this. He’s tired. He’s been doing his job as he can. Personally, I don’t have anything against him. I talked to him a few times over the course of one years and four months—yes, few times, and I was usually had Sergio Moro next to me. So I said that today the Official Gazette would publish the removal of Mr. Valeixo. And, by all accounts, it had been requested.”

In a Twitter post published after the address, now former Minister Sergio Moro once again stated that the onetime director-general of the Federal Police did not ask to leave his post. “As a matter of fact, Federal Police Director-General Maurício Valeixo had been tired of being harassed since August last year by the president trying to replace him. But yesterday there was no resignation, nor has his removal decree been sent or reported on to me,” he wrote.

Late on Friday afternoon (24), an extra issue of the Official Gazette showed Maurício Valeixo’s exit from the Federal Police, this time without Moro’s digital signature, which had been in the first version of the decree.

A chair in the Supreme Court

Bolsonaro went on to say that Sergio Moro offered Valeixo’s ouster in exchange for a chair as Supreme Court justice. “Since he mentioned a few details, Sergio Moro told me, more than once: ‘You could replace Valeixo, yes, but not before November, after you appoint me to the Supreme Court.’ I’m sorry, but that’s not how it goes. I recognize his qualities. If he ever goes this far, he may do a good job, but I’m not agreeing to this exchange. Not to mention it’s demoralizing for a president to hear that.”

On this, the former minister tweeted: “Federal Police Director-General Maurício Valeixo’s stay was never brought to the table in exchange for my appointment as Supreme Court justice. If this were my goal, I would have agreed on the replacement of the director-general yesterday.”