Brazil president issues threats, offers bribes to prevent January 8th committee

Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is threatening parliamentarians and offering them bribes to stave off an investigation into the events of January 8, 2023.

After October’s presidential election was declared for Lula, a Leftist former president who was imprisoned for corruption, millions of Brazilians spent months protesting the election. Many insisted the election was fraudulent and demanded that Right-leaning President Jair Bolsonaro retain his seat.      

For over two months, civil unrest plagued Brazil’s cities and streets after voting machine audits found significant voting irregularities which may have helped Lula cross the finish line with 50.7% of the vote, the narrowest margin in Brazil’s history. Some areas also reported zero votes going to Bolsonaro. 

During a January 8^th protest seemingly designed to replicate the one at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, Brazilian demonstrators stormed the Planalto, Alvorada and Jaburu Palaces — the seats of the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential office—in protest against fraudulent elections. 

Official reports allege that the Lula administration knew in advance the buildings would be breached. 

The riot elicited a reaction similar to January 6^th, which included an outpouring of support for Lula and widespread criticism of Right-leaning Brazilians from both worldwide media and global leaders. Those leaders, including Joe Biden and Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, soundly condemned the protesters for their “assault” on Brazil’s “democratic institutions”. Lula’s allies used the January 8^th protest to try to block the president’s political opponents from being inaugurated post-election.

And in further lockstep with events following January 6^th, Brazilian parliamentarians have filed a request to establish a January 8^th committee, officially referred to as a Joint Parliamentary Inquest Commission (CPMI). 189 federal deputies and 33 senators signed the request to install the CPMI, which would investigate the government’s role on January 8^th. 

But Lula is offering bribes to those parliamentarians. He reportedly promised to earmark up to R$60 million for budget amendments by politicians who withdraw their name from the CPMI.

“I received information that emissaries of Lula are offering 60 million reals in amendments to whoever withdraws the signature from the application for the installation of the CPMI on January 8th. If confirmed, I will seek to hold those involved responsible for the practice of active and passive corruption,” said Opposition Deputy Ubiratan Sanderson, according to The Gateway Pundit.

The Lula administration is also threatening to withhold R$13 million in individual amendments to the 209 first-term federal deputies if they continue to support the CPMI.

"The government is afraid," said André Fernandes (PL-CE), who led the charge to set up the commission. "They are calling MP by MP to withdraw the signatures, and we are calling one by one to put them in. We want an investigation."

So far, three deputies have withdrawn their signatures.

"The government is going to invest heavily in convincing the parliamentarians that this is not the best way forward, and if the instrument is the withdrawal of signatures, then so be it," said Sen. Humberto Costa, a Lula ally, in an interview with Poder360 earlier this month.

Sen. Marcos do Val said in January that Lula and Justice Minister Flávio Dino, a member of Brazil’s Socialist Party, were informed of the January 8^th riot beforehand. 

“The Minister of Justice was informed of the attacks the day before. The moment it started, he went to the ministry window, looked out and did nothing. I have already started to find evidence that President Lula was also aware of what was going to happen and did nothing”, Senator do Val tweeted. He included a copy of a letter he sent to Justice Minister Dino, demanding to know what he knew in advance of the riot. 

Senator Val’s accusation falls in line with reports that the riot was designed to match the January 6^th protest in the US to crack down on Right-leaning opponents.

Aside from allegedly having prior knowledge of the riot, Lula’s allies were already invoking January 6^th to justify harsh measures against those questioning the presidential election results. 

Furthermore, the rioters who breached the buildings allegedly had help from the inside, a claim Lula himself corroborated.

Following the Brazil protest, the New York Times reported that many of the protesters Sunday confirmed the breaches of the federal buildings themselves and the ensuing vandalism were the work of infiltrators.   

“Have you ever heard of the Trojan Horse?” one protester, Nathanael S. Viera, 51, told the Times. “The infiltrators went in and set everything up, and the damn press showed the Brazilian nation that we patriots are the hooligans.”   

“Donald Trump was taken out with a rigged election, no question about it, and at the time he was taken out, I said, ‘President Bolsonaro is going to be taken down,’” said Wanderlei Silva, 59. “The Democrats staged that and invaded the Capitol,” he added. “The same way they staged it here.”   

Footage from the protest appears to show militant provocateurs among the protesters. Demonstrators can be seen tackling the alleged infiltrators and preventing further damage to government property.