Brazil Denies Visas to US Officials Over Alleged Election Meddling

Brazil has denied visa requests for two officials from the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who planned to travel to the country to raise doubts about the integrity of its electoral system, two Brazilian officials with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the U.S. plan represented an attempt to influence Brazil's October presidential election. The election will see leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva face right-leaning Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, a Trump ally and son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost the previous election to Lula.

Brazil denied the visas on Friday to the U.S. delegation, which included Assistant Secretary Riley M. Barnes from the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and Deputy Assistant Secretary Samuel Samson, the Brazilian officials said. The rejection was based on 'evidence pointing to a renewed attempt to politically exploit the situation and undermine the electoral system,' one official said.

Later on Saturday, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said Barnes and Samson planned to visit Brasilia from July 27 to July 30 to meet with government officials, religious leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss election integrity, religious freedom, and freedom of expression. The spokesperson rejected any suggestion of a 'ploy' to undermine Brazil's elections, calling such claims 'baseless' and describing the visit as routine and consistent with the bureau's statutory mandate.

Flavio Bolsonaro did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Trump's administration has sought to influence political contests across Latin America. His recent endorsement of Colombia's President-elect Abelardo De La Espriella followed support for leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei and Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast.

The incident marks a new attempt to cast doubt on Brazil's electoral system. Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain, repeatedly sought to undermine confidence in Brazil's electoral system before the 2022 election, echoing tactics used by Trump in the U.S. At the time, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director, under former President Joe Biden, told the Bolsonaro administration to stop raising doubts about Brazil's voting system.

In the months before the 2022 vote, which Lula ultimately won, Bolsonaro convened foreign diplomats to present unsubstantiated allegations that Brazil's electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud. His campaign backfired: Brazil's Superior Electoral Court later ruled that Bolsonaro had abused his position and barred him from seeking public office until 2030. Bolsonaro was later convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting to overturn the election result, and is serving the sentence under house arrest.

Now, Flavio Bolsonaro has revived doubts about the country's electoral system, spreading through social media. Speaking at an event attended by dozens of diplomats last week, the senator urged foreign governments to send observers to monitor Brazil's elections. At the same event, he claimed that Brazil's electronic voting machines were produced by Smartmatic, a company that U.S. authorities have linked to electoral manipulation allegations in Venezuela. Smartmatic and Brazil's electoral court both told Reuters that no Brazilian voting machines were supplied by the company. The senator said in a statement that he had not questioned 'the integrity of Brazil's voting system.'