Brazilian government's witch hunt gets a 50% tariff

US Sanctions Brazilian Judge Overseeing Bolsonaro Case

Brazil’s Supreme Court stated that it rejected U.S. attempts to challenge its authority

The U.S. Treasury Department stated on July 30 that it has sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, accusing him of targeting political opponents and suppressing free speech.

De Moraes is overseeing the case against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of involvement in an alleged coup attempt on Jan. 8, 2023. The Supreme Court justice imposed restrictions on the former president on July 18. The restrictions included an ankle monitor, a ban on social media use, and no contact with foreign embassies.

The sanction comes amid escalating tensions between Washington and Brasília over the treatment of Bolsonaro, with the Trump administration tying trade policy and high tariffs on Brazilian imports to concerns over censorship in the country.

“Alexandre de Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against U.S. and Brazilian citizens and companies,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.

Trump signed an order on July 30, implementing an additional 40 percent tariff on imports from Brazil, bringing the total tariff amount on the country to 50 percent.

Read more about it...

Brazil's Bolsonaro accused by Brazilian Supreme Court of Abuse of Power

What to Know About Trump Admin’s Dispute With Brazil Over the Bolsonaro Trial

The U.S. president posted a letter defending the former Brazilian president, calling the latter’s prosecution an attack on a political opponent.

President Donald Trump and the Brazilian government are increasingly at odds over the handling of embattled former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s ongoing trial related to an alleged coup to overturn the country’s 2022 presidential election.

Trump has criticized the trial as politically motivated. Bolsonaro is accused of being a coconspirator in an attempted coup d'état following his defeat in the election. He has denied any involvement and said that he is the target of political persecution under the administration of his former competitor, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or “Lula.”

On July 17, Trump sent a letter to Bolsonaro expressing his “sincere hope that the government of Brazil changes course, stops attacking political opponents, and ends its ridiculous censorship regime.”

The day after that letter was made public, Bolsonaro made a public response thanking Trump. The Brazilian Supreme Court responded with warrants and restraining orders banning Bolsonaro from contacting foreign officials concerning the charges.

Trump said last week he would impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods starting on Aug. 1, in a letter of criticism of the Bolsonaro trial.

Read more for the background and details

Read Breitbart

Foreign Judge Accused Of Targeting MAGA Faces Huge Consequences

Alexandre de Moraes, Corruption personified

There is an old maxim that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In the case of Alexandre de Moraes, Justice of Brazil‘s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), the phrase feels less like a cautionary adage and more like a clinical diagnosis. What began as a seemingly standard judicial appointment has curdled into something far more corrosive: an extraterritorial assault on civil liberties, waged by a man who now finds himself compelled to explain his actions before a US court.

The lawsuit filed by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and Rumble against Moraes has not only survived initial scrutiny, it has drawn the Brazilian justice into an unprecedented legal confrontation with American constitutional protections. The man who silenced critics in Brazil is now being forced to speak.

Moraes’s rise to power began with a suspicious appointment. In 2017, Brazil was in the midst of the explosive Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato) corruption investigation, which implicated some of the nation’s most powerful political and business figures.

Justice Teori Zavascki, who had been overseeing the case, died suddenly in a plane crash, a death that many found too convenient given the political stakes.

With Zavascki gone, then-President Michel Temer, himself a subject of corruption investigations, quickly appointed Moraes, his former justice minister, to the STF, ensuring that someone loyal to the political establishment, rather than an impartial jurist, would have a decisive role in shaping the Court’s direction.

Moraes is accused of attempting to enforce Brazilian speech laws in the United States, using the threat of criminal and financial penalties to compel compliance.

His orders, often sealed and undisclosed to the public, demanded the removal of accounts belonging to political dissidents, many of whom had fled to the US seeking the protection of its more liberal speech regime. One such dissident, described in the lawsuit as “Political Dissident A,” remains in the US after a rejected extradition request. Moraes’s response? Pressure American companies to silence him anyway

Read about it...

“This guy @Alexandre is an outright criminal of the worst kind, masquerading as a judge,” said Elon

Elon's X banned in Brazil

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of the decision seen by The Associated Press.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month.

In his decision, de Moraes gave internet service providers and app stores five days to block access to X, and said the platform will remain blocked until it complies with his orders. He also said people or companies who use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access X will be subject to daily fines of 50,000 reais ($8,900).

Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly claimed the justice’s actions amount to censorship, and his argument has been echoed by Brazil’s political right. He has often insulted de Moraes on his platform, characterizing him as a dictator and tyrant.

Read more about it...

The Worst Communist Take-Over Ever-- Brazil

Joe Biden and the CIA Worked to Install Current Communist Regime in Brazil

"The contentious Brazilian presidential election of 2022 has been one of the most divisive events in the country’s history, pitting far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro against left-wing former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a hotly contested runoff vote.

In order to prevent any attempts by Bolsonaro to undermine Brazil’s democratic institutions, the Biden regime embarked on a diplomatic mission to warn him against casting doubt on his country’s electoral process. As early as July 2021, just months after taking office, Biden’s CIA director William Burns traveled to Brazil to meet with senior officials and issue this warning. And so did Lloyd Austin.

As we bear witness yet again to another international incident caused by Joe Biden and US foreign policy, namely “the worst communist takeover ever” unfolding in South America – it is critical that we remember this was all part of their plan all along.

This plan, has gone largely unreported or ignored by Western media outlets who continue instead with badmouthing President Bolsonaro instead of those responsible, namely those within The Deep State and our own government apparatus under Joe Biden himself whose actions brought us here today."

Read about it...