CRUCIAL FACTS ON THE FLAVIO BOLSONARO MATTER: It's not just Flavio Bolsonaro who fled Brazil to escape the tyrannical persecution of Alexandre de Moraes and the pro-Lula wing of the Supreme Court. There are dozens of Brazilian exiles who have done the same: dissident journalists, activists, bloggers, and politicians who all fled to avoid certain prison for political opposition. In most of these cases, Moraes has demanded the extradition of those who fled and whom he wants to imprison back in Brazil. But Moraes' extradition requests have been repeatedly denied by multiple countries and institutions on the grounds that these prosecutions are politically motivated or otherwise corrupted. Among those concluing this: Spain, Italy, INTERPOL, and even the US under Biden. Just today, Italy refused Brazil's demand to extradite a person named @edutagli, who was once a top aide to Moraes, but then fled to Italy after Moraes accused him of having been my source in a huge leak from Moraes' office that I obtained for reporting I did with @Folha in 2024. That massive leak enabled us to publish roughly 20 articles proving systemic abuses of power by Moraes against his political enemies: exactly the reason so many Brazilians, including Bolsonaro, know they can't get a fair trial in Brazil. Italy today refused to extradite the person accused of being our source on the grounds that the proceedings would be a farce because Moraes — as he so often does — wants to act as the supposed victim, investigator, and judge, and thus his demand falls well outside of Italy's extradition standards. Again, multiple countries have concluded the same, showing what a farce Brazil's once-respected judicial system has become under the Lula/Moraes regime. Moraes has overseen a system of political persecution masquerading as criminal justice that has been recognized as a sham by multiple countries that are not exactly Bolsonaro allies. Nobody in their right mind who is a political enemy of Moraes would remain in Brazil once if it is clear that he intends to imprison you, since he has proven that guilt is a foregone conclusion and he operates with no legal or constitutional limits of any kind. That is why asylum under international law exists: to protect those who cannot obtain justice in their own country because the justice system has been corrupted and commandeered for political persecution. Many people, such as Julian Assange, have needed that protection (which Lula cheered). Now people need it from Moraes in Brazil. That is sadly one of the main legacies of both Lula and Moraes over the last six years.

For those who decided to invent some bizarre new authoritarian law-and-order rule today to justify Moraes' ban on Bolsonaro leaving the country -- that if you're under investigation (without even being charged), it's normal to have your passport seized -- please note: Lula's son is engulfed in several major financial scandals and investigations relating to lobbyist corruption. His passport has never been seized or cancelled. In fact, he left Brazil to go live in extreme luxury in Spain (in the same neighborhood where several of the world's highest-paid soccer players live), where nobody can explain the source of what appears to be his great wealth. Countless rich and powerful people in Brazil, including Lula's allies, are under investigation yet freely leave the country when they want: jetting off to Dubai, France, wherever. Truly bizarre how some on the left start fabricating extremist police powers when it suits them.

There are major questions about how Flavio Bolsonaro left Brazil this morning with his family for the US without detection by Brazil. All morning, Brazilian authorities were utterly confused and clueless. As rumors circulated that Bolsonaro had left Brazil, they had no idea if it was true. At one point, they thought they had located a plane in Argentina, but Bolsonaro wasn't on it. That seems to have been a decoy. Some Brazilian media outlets are now reporting that the US Govt did not merely agree to allow Bolsonaro to enter, but actively planned, participated in and even executed the exit of Bolsonaro and his family from Brazil to the US: meaning that it was a covert extraction operation by US officials carried out right under the noses of Brazilian intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, who had no idea it was happening. (Bolsonaro has now arrived in the US, but the secrecy of all this means the US Govt has not publicly spoken on it. Everyone, including me, is working on finding out their version). There are lots of questions for both governments, some pretty serious implications as well, and ultimately lots of embarrassment for Brazilian officials no matter how it happened (to say nothing of the authoritarian and anti-democratic stench of having Brazil's globally notorious tyrannical judge order the passport seizure of Lula's opponent a mere 7 minutes after Lula was declared the winner).

If, by the way, the same situation that just happened in Brazil had happened but with the parties switched -- if Bolsonaro had won last night's election and then a pro-Bolsonaro judge sent the Federal Police to seize Lula's passport and bar him from leaving the country -- every major western media outlet and liberal NGOs would be screaming about the authoritarian attack on Brazil's elections and the destruction of basic freedoms.