Flavio Bolsonaro arrives in US after Trump gives him visa despite police order to surrender passport

Defeated Brazilian election candidate Flavio Bolsonaro arrived in the US late on Tuesday, despite a court ordering he surrender his passports amid an ongoing corruption investigation.The right-wing politician, son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro, landed in Miami and was received by his brother Eduardo upon his arrival. Though his party has conceded defeat in Sunday’s election, Bolsonaro has refused to accept the result of the vote and fled the country after the Trump administration announced it would give him and his family visas. A source had earlier told Reuters that Bolsonaro had left Brazil with his wife and two daughters, just hours after police in Brazil said they had cancelled his passports. Police said that Bolsonaro had failed to comply with an order to surrender his passports within 24 hours as part of a probe into alleged money laundering, which he denies.Newly re-elected president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that Bolsonaro’s exit from the country was “shameful” and that he should have stayed to prove his innocence. ⁠Flavio Bolsonaro has left the ⁠country ​for ⁠the ⁠United States, a source told Reuters (Reuters)Bolsonaro said in a video posted Monday on his social media channels that he “never thought about leaving the country” and instead was attempting to organise opposition among his congressional colleagues to the election results.The route of his departure to the US remains unclear, with Argentina denying permitting entry to a plane linked with the Bolsonaro family. Bolsonaro lost the presidential election with 48.25 per cent of the vote to Lula’s 51.75 per cent, which gave the latter a historic fourth term as president. Bolsonaro’s eight-year term as a senator expires on 31 January 2027, which will also cause him to lose special jurisdiction at the country's Supreme Court.Brazilians had earlier taken to social media to ask where Bolsonaro was. Reporters gathered outside his home in the capital, Brasilia, but he did not appear. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Security of Argentina denied reports the Brazilian senator had entered the country. Brazilian media outlets reported that many Bolsonaro allies had been unable to reach him.Following media reports about a private plane at Iguazu International Airport on the Argentina-Brazil border, Argentine authorities checked the aircraft and its crew. They found no flight plan listing the Bolsonaro family.A spokesperson for right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei, who has yet to congratulate Lula on his victory, said, "There is no asylum request," declining to give further details.Former president Jair Bolsonaro and his son, Flavio (AFP/Getty)It appears that Bolsonaro could be following the footsteps of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who moved to the United States after refusing to concede losing to Lula in 2022.The elder Bolsonaro eventually returned to Brazil but was later given a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup.His son has yet to officially concede defeat, saying on Sunday he would seek the annulment of the result over alleged voter irregularities. He said he would ask for the result to be annulled after a Lula-appointed Supreme Court justice extended voting by two hours over transport irregularities.“It is impossible to recognise the election results, given the circumstances under which things unfolded,” Bolsonaro told journalists.However, his Liberal Party said on Monday it acknowledged Lula's victory.With 100 per cent of votes counted, 80-year-old Lula took a 51.79 per cent share of the vote against his 45-year-old rival’s 48.21 per cent. Analysts said high voter turnout may have helped Lula snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, on the eve of his 81st birthday.Lula’s win in the presidential election defied polls (AP)80-year-old Lula took a 51.79 per cent share of the vote (Getty)Bolsonaro’s petition is undermined by the fact that his campaign also sought a voting extension due to heavy rains in the conservative-leaning south.But his refusal to concede could nonetheless spark a wave of protests in a country where faith in the electoral system, and in judicial independence, has been strained in recent years, observers say.Right-wing influencer Paulo Figueiredo, who serves as a sort of unofficial spokesperson for the Bolsonaro family, declined to answer questions about Bolsonaro's whereabouts. "After months of intense work that has been unfairly thwarted, I am not in the mood to ‌speak to the press," he said in a message. "If I have ​any comments to make on any matter, I will get in ‌touch."Eduardo, Bolsonaro's younger brother who lives in the United States, said ahead of the vote that an election loss would require a move."If my brother does not win, I'm in ‌favour that he would leave ​the country," he told podcaster Steven ‌Crowder this month.