Flavio Bolsonaro disembarks from a plane after arriving at Opa-locka Executive Airport near Miami, U.S. on October 28, 2026. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
President Donald Trump said on Saturday (October 31, 2026) evening that defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro can stay in the United States indefinitely.
The comments, made to reporters during a Halloween party at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, suggest that relations between the Western Hemisphere’s two largest democracies may remain strained for some time, even as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Brazil’s top diplomat earlier in the day.
“He can stay here as long as he wants,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Bolsonaro, who left Brazil after losing the election to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, despite leading in most opinion polls. “In my opinion, the election was a disgrace,” he added. Outside observers described the election as free and fair.
The Brazilian embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s decision to go to the U.S. followed a ruling by a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice to revoke his passport shortly after his loss, as the candidate faces a pair of federal money-laundering probes in Brazil and police there considered him a flight risk.
He was admitted to the United States under humanitarian parole, Reuters has previously reported, a status that typically only lasts for one year.
Mr. Rubio had said earlier on Saturday (October 31, 2026) that he spoke with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira at at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, and that they would see each other again in a few weeks.
In comments that had pointed to a potential rapprochement, Mr. Rubio told journalists that he and Mr. Vieira were expected to see each other again in France at a G7 Foreign Ministers’ summit that will take place next month. Brazil is expected to attend the meeting as an observer, he noted.
A U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter have told Reuters that Mr. Trump has no current plans to support the political ambitions of Mr. Bolsonaro — who has described himself as Brazil’s rightful leader — despite allowing the Brazilian politician into the U.S. Mr. Trump, on Saturday (October 31, 2026), said he has no plans to meet with Mr. Bolsonaro.
Mr. Rubio said on Saturday (October 31, 2026) that the U.S. Government “was not involved directly in any of the moves” that led to Mr. Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil earlier this week. However, Reuters and several other media outlets have reported that Jason Miller, a White House official, helped arrange Mr. Bolsonaro’s journey.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s father, far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, is imprisoned in Brazil for plotting a coup after losing his own re-election bid in 2022. Mr. Lula himself spent 17 months in jail in 2018 and 2019 on corruption charges that were later annulled.
Published – November 01, 2026 12:30 pm IST
