Flavio Bolsonaro leaves Brazil for the United States after election loss and passport order, sources say

Brasilia, Brazil. Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has left Brazil for the United States, according to two sources, after losing Sunday’s presidential election and declining to obey a Supreme Court order to hand over his passports.

Departure and unanswered questions

The US Embassy in Brazil did not immediately reply to a request for comment, and Bolsonaro’s lawyer did not respond either. It was not immediately clear where he was heading, when he would arrive or whether he would request asylum. It was also unclear whether he could seek entry to the United States now that his passports have been canceled.

It remains unclear how he managed to leave while subject to a 24-hour Supreme Court deadline. A senior Brazilian Federal Police official said Bolsonaro had not left the country through any regular migration point. Right-wing influencer Paulo Figueiredo, who acts as an informal spokesperson for the Bolsonaro family, declined to answer questions about his whereabouts.

Election result and court deadline

Bolsonaro had been favored to win the presidential vote but lost unexpectedly to the leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. On Monday he was given 24 hours to submit his passports as part of a money laundering investigation, in which he denies any wrongdoing. Two other sources said the deadline has now passed, and his documents were canceled as a result.

He has not formally conceded. On Sunday he said he would ask for the result to be annulled over alleged voter irregularities. His Liberal Party said on Monday that it recognized Lula’s victory.

Strain in US-Brazil relations

His departure threatens to widen a rift between the two most populous countries in the Americas. Lula has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaros to return them to power. Before Sunday’s vote, Reuters reported on a US State Department campaign to restore them to office. The administration of US President Donald Trump has previously alleged that Flavio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was a victim of judicial persecution in Brazil.

Precedent set by his father

Jair Bolsonaro also traveled to the United States in 2022, when Joe Biden was president, after refusing to concede to Lula. He later returned to Brazil and was subsequently handed a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup, after his supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia.