Brazil investigates reported Trump funding for campaign against Supreme Court

Brazil’s attorney general has warned that foreign interference “cannot be tolerated” after a report revealed Trump administration plans to fund groups challenging the country’s Supreme Court.

Jorge Messias described the report by The Guardian, as “an important alert for Brazilian sovereignty” just days before Brazil’s presidential election.

According to the report, the Trump administration is seeking to direct more than $175m from the US State Department’s Human Rights and Democracy Fund towards several initiatives.

They include a $1m award titled “Countering lawfare and censorship in Brazil”, intended to support groups opposing what the proposal describes as judicial overreach and censorship by Brazil’s Supreme Court.

Brazilian authorities have since requested an investigation into the potential funding and whether it could amount to foreign interference.

“Disagreements between governments are inherent to international relations. What cannot be tolerated is for foreign political interests to seek to interfere in the functioning of Brazilian institutions or to influence, directly or indirectly, choices that belong exclusively to the Brazilian people,” Messias said.