Brazil's attorney general demands probe into alleged US funding of far-right groups

Brazil’s attorney general has called on law enforcement to investigate alleged efforts by the United States to interfere in the country’s politics by funnelling money to far-right causes, days before Brazilians vote in a presidential election.

Jorge Messias made the call on Thursday, one day after the Guardian reported that the Trump administration planned to award $1m to right-wing civil groups campaigning against Brazil’s supreme court.

Writing on X, Messias called the report “an important alert for Brazilian sovereignty”, adding: “The information is especially serious in light of Brazil’s electoral process and the recent episodes of external pressure on our institutions.” He said foreign meddling in Brazil’s institutions and democracy “cannot be tolerated”.

According to the Brazilian television network GloboNews, the attorney general’s office on Thursday filed a criminal complaint to investigate potential wrongdoing in response to the Guardian story.

The row comes three days before the presidential election, in which the leftwing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva faces the Trump ally Flávio Bolsonaro, with polls showing the pair neck and neck.

Last year, the Trump administration used sanctions and tariffs in a failed attempt to pressure Lula’s government and the supreme court over the coup trial of Flávio’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro. He was convicted and handed a 27-year sentence for plotting to seize power after losing the 2022 election to Lula.