Flávio Bolsonaro says he will lead Brazil’s opposition in exile, after landing in US following election defeat

By Max Saltman, Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, Julia Vargas Jones, Jennifer Hansler, CNN

(CNN) — Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro has said he will lead his country’s opposition from the United States, where he arrived on Wednesday after fleeing Brazil following his defeat in Sunday’s presidential election.

In a statement in which he referred to himself as the “leader of Brazil,” Bolsonaro said he left his country to avoid being imprisoned and censored, accusing the ruling government and Supreme Court of a political witch hunt.

“It was not my intention to leave my homeland, but I know exactly where this will lead. This is the classic playbook for any coup d’état,” he said.

Bolsonaro said he brought his family with him to the US, where he says they are safe. He also thanked US President Donald Trump and the American people for welcoming him.

TV footage showed him stepping out of a plane at Miami’s Opa-locka airport on Wednesday with his wife and two daughters. The family were later pictured leaving the airport hiding under umbrellas.

A Brazilian source close to Bolsonaro said that the politician had feared arrest in Brazil. He is currently under investigation by the country’s highest court for alleged acts of corruption and money laundering.

Trump approved allowing Bolsonaro entry into the United States following his election loss, a Trump adviser told CNN.

Trump administration officials were aware on Monday that Bolsonaro had roughly 24 hours to surrender his passport and made clear to the defeated Brazilian presidential candidate that he would be allowed entry into the US, the adviser said.

The US is issuing visas to Bolsonaro and his family, two US officials earlier told CNN.

Trump confirmed Wednesday that the United States allowed Bolsonaro to enter the country after he fled Brazil.

“Well, I’m not going to make a comment about that, but I know that we gave him a pass to come into the country, so we’ll see,” he told reporters.

Trump said that he believed Bolsonaro and his family had been mistreated, while insisting he had stayed out of the race.

He had previously indicated he would agree to Bolsonaro coming to the US.

“Well, I would approve. I ⁠think ​they’re fine ⁠people. The election was very ⁠strange, and I thought ​it ⁠was terrible,” he said overnight.

It is currently unclear whether Trump and Bolsonaro spoke directly by phone prior the Brazilian politician’s departure.

Sources earlier confirmed to CNN that Bolsonaro had left Brazil for the US after losing Sunday’s presidential election runoff against leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Brazil’s Federal Police said it had asked the Supreme Federal Court to authorize the seizure of Bolsonaro’s passports after identifying a risk of him leaving the country, but said the senator failed to surrender them.

Speculation about his movements mounted after Argentine news outlet Infobae reported that Bolsonaro, a Trump-aligned candidate, had left Brazil via Argentina. The Argentine government initially said in a statement that it has “no record of Flávio Bolsonaro entering” the country.

But early Wednesday morning Argentinian time, the country’s immigration ministry said in a post to X that Bolsonaro and his family had entered Argentina from Brazil late Tuesday local time, and shortly after had boarded a flight to Guayaquil in Ecuador, according to its flight plan.

It added they had entered Argentina with “valid documentation” and without any “legal impediment.” CNN has reached out to Ecuador’s foreign affairs ministry for comment.

The Federal Police said “there is no official record of the congressman leaving through Brazilian immigration control points.”

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to turn in his passports within 24 hours on Monday.

Bolsonaro said Brazilian police had informed him of the order in person and told him he was banned from leaving Brazil. In a video posted to Instagram on Monday, the senator denied that he intended to flee.

One of the allegations against Bolsonaro is connected to potential illegal online betting platforms, and another to the production of a biopic about his father, “Dark Horse,” which federal police believe involved funds from Banco Master, a now-collapsed bank at the heart of a $7 billion Ponzi-like scheme in 2025. Bolsonaro denies all wrongdoing.

Bolsonaro’s campaign is also at the center of a newly ordered federal investigation into alleged foreign interference in Brazil’s election. Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered federal police to investigate allegations that the Rockbridge Network, a US conservative political network co-founded by Vice President JD Vance, was involved in discussions aimed at securing foreign financial support for Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign. CNN has reached out to JD Vance’s office for comment.

At the time of Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil, there were no warrants for his arrest, but according to legal analysts, the act of defying the court’s orders to surrender his passports could be enough reason for a warrant to be issued.

Right-wingers in exile

In leaving Brazil for the US, Bolsonaro joins a large community of Brazilian conservatives in exile — including his own brother Eduardo, former Brazilian intelligence chief Alexandre Ramagem and podcaster Paulo Figueiredo.

Eduardo suggested shortly before the runoff election that Flávio ought to leave Brazil if his bid for the presidency failed. On Tuesday, Eduardo called rumors that his brother had fled a “lie.”

Flávio’s journey mirrors his father’s actions after losing the 2022 presidential election. Shortly after his loss, Jair Bolsonaro decamped for Orlando, Florida, where he remained for three months. During that time, hundreds of his supporters stormed the seats of power in the capital Brasília, vandalizing the supreme court, congress and the presidential palace in an attack reminiscent of the insurrection on the US Capitol in 2021.

Jair Bolsonaro and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2022 election results led to the former president being sentenced to 27 years in prison. Trump, a prominent supporter of the Bolsonaro family, briefly imposed tariffs on Brazil in response to the criminal case against Jair. Trump claimed without evidence earlier this week that Lula’s victory was “rigged.”

In his statement Wednesday, Flávio Bolsonaro alleged “electoral fraud” in Sunday’s election, without providing proof. He also compared himself to other famous leaders who went into exile, including France’s Charles de Gaulle, Cuba’s José Martí and Venezuela’s María Corina Machado.

He initially released a version of the statement in which he referred to himself as Brazil’s “true president,” before deleting that post and publishing a new version in which he called himself the “leader of Brazil.”

Bolsonaro’s leaving Brazil comes directly after his surprise loss to Lula over the weekend. The conservative politician was a strong favorite to win, but Lula managed to outmaneuver Bolsonaro Sunday, earning 4.4 million more votes in the second round.

Lula told a crowd of supporters Tuesday that Bolsonaro’s flight from Brazil was “shameful” and that his opponent could have stayed in the country to fight his accusers in court.

“Regrettably, that is the Bolsonaro family for you. Brazil is their second homeland; their first homeland is the United States,” he said.

Bolsonaro initially refused to concede to Lula, saying his team would ask for the results to be annulled.

Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party reversed course days later. “We recognize the presidential election results,” party head Valdemar Costa Neto said, according to CNN Brasil. “But we believe the issues ⁠raised need to be properly clarified.”

The departure of the defeated presidential candidate appeared to catch his party off guard, his campaign manager suggested.

“We’re surprised because yesterday we talked about the need for Flávio — given the roughly 60 million votes he received — to take on this leadership role for the opposition,” Rogerio Marinho told reporters.

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CNN’s Mauricio Torres, Anabella Gonzalez, Michael Rios, Alessandra Freitas and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed reporting.

Correction: This story has been updated to remove an erroneous claim made Tuesday by a US source about Bolsonaro’s whereabouts