White House under pressure to remove former president after riots |
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Good morning and we start with fallout from the riots in Brazil on Sunday. The White House is facing calls to expel Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president, after thousands of his supporters raided the country’s Congress, supreme court and presidential palace. The White House is facing calls to expel Jair Bolsonaro from the US following riots that saw supporters of Brazil’s former president raid the country’s Congress, supreme court and presidential palace. Bolsonaro, who has previously questioned the results of October’s election, has been staying in self-imposed exile in Florida for the past two weeks. He was admitted to hospital yesterday for observation due to “abdominal discomfort”, according to his wife Michelle. Meanwhile, in Brazil police yesterday began dismantling dozens of anti-government protest camps that had been erected following Bolsonaro’s election defeat. Thousands of pro-democracy campaigners in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo chanted “No amnesty! No amnesty! No amnesty!” as they demanded retribution for the former president. Several Democratic lawmakers in the US, including Joaquin Castro and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called for Bolsonaro to be removed from the country and returned to Brazil. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US had not received any official requests from Brazil’s government about Bolsonaro’s status in the country, but added that if it did, “we’d treat them seriously”. |