In a dramatic turn for Brazilian politics and international diplomacy, the United States has imposed unprecedented sanctions on a Brazilian Supreme Court judge while the country’s political future remains mired in uncertainty over the fate of former President Jair Bolsonaro. These developments have sent ripples through Brazil’s government, its opposition, and the broader global community, as accusations of foreign interference and threats to democracy intensify.
On September 27, 2025, Michelle Bolsonaro, the former first lady and wife of Jair Bolsonaro, appeared at a PL Woman event in Ji-Paraná, Rondônia, radiating confidence in her husband’s political future despite the legal storm he faces. Addressing a crowd of supporters, Michelle declared, “We will work to reelect our President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, because I don’t want to be president, no. I want to be a first lady.” Her words, reported by local media and confirmed by Folha de S.Paulo, underlined her intention to support her husband’s candidacy for the 2026 presidential election—even as he remains ineligible and under house arrest following his conviction for involvement in the 2022 coup plot.
Jair Bolsonaro’s legal troubles are far from minor. The Federal Supreme Court sentenced him to 27 years and 3 months in prison, a verdict that has shaken Brazil’s political landscape. The former president’s supporters, however, remain undeterred. Michelle Bolsonaro’s speech included a pointed critique of the judicial measures imposed on her husband, such as the mandatory electronic anklet and frequent police searches at their residence. “Not even a drug dealer and bandit is having the treatment that I am having today in my house,” she lamented, voicing frustration at what she perceives as excessive scrutiny by authorities.
Despite this, Michelle has kept the door open for her own political ambitions. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, she acknowledged that she might consider a candidacy “if it was the will of God.” Yet, during her appearance in Ji-Paraná, she made it crystal clear: her preference is to remain by her husband’s side, supporting his potential return to the presidency. “If he wants, I will be his voice in the four corners of the nation,” she promised.
Bolsonaro’s allies have been actively discussing possible electoral strategies, including a ticket pairing Michelle with São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas. While Tarcísio has publicly dismissed the idea, speculation persists. Meanwhile, Michelle is also floated as a potential candidate for the Senate in the Federal District—a testament to her rising political profile. According to recent Datafolha polling, she is better positioned than any of Bolsonaro’s children in hypothetical electoral matchups, garnering 40% of voting intentions against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s 48% in a possible second-round scenario.
But the Bolsonaro saga is not confined to Brazil’s borders. The United States, under the Trump administration, has weighed in with a heavy hand. On or before September 24, 2025, the US Treasury announced sanctions against Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court judge presiding over Bolsonaro’s trial. The move, detailed by The Guardian and echoed by numerous outlets, coincided with President Trump signing an executive order imposing a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports—albeit with significant exemptions for oil, orange juice, timber, and aircraft.
The rationale? According to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Moraes was “responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights and politicized prosecutions – including against former president Jair Bolsonaro.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio added fuel to the fire, warning, “Let this be a warning to those who would trample on the fundamental rights of their countrymen – judicial robes cannot protect you.”
The White House, for its part, justified the tariffs as a response to “the government of Brazil’s politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters.” The sanctions and tariffs, the administration argued, were a direct rebuke to what it saw as an unjust campaign against Bolsonaro and his allies.
For Bolsonaro’s family and supporters, the US actions were cause for celebration. Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former president’s son and a congressman, took to social media to thank Trump and Rubio for their support. “We Brazilians will never forget this action of yours,” he tweeted, following up in a video: “Today I have a feeling of mission accomplished but our journey won’t end here.” Eduardo has spent recent weeks in the US, lobbying for American intervention on his father’s behalf.
Yet the US intervention has sparked outrage within Brazil’s government. Allies of President Lula, including prominent figures in the leftwing Worker’s Party (PT), have condemned the sanctions and tariffs as an attack on Brazilian democracy and sovereignty. Congressman José Guimarães called the measures “not just an affront to a supreme court minister … [but also] a direct attack on Brazilian democracy and sovereignty,” denouncing what he described as “the fruit of a Bolsonaro family conspiracy against Brazil.” Gleisi Hoffmann, a senior minister and close Lula ally, labeled Trump’s move a “violent and arrogant act” and expressed the government’s “utter repudiation” of the “absurd” measure.
Interestingly, the backlash was not limited to Lula’s allies. Conservative politicians, too, voiced their disapproval. João Amoêdo, a founder of the rightwing Partido Novo, called the sanctions “an unacceptable attempt at foreign interference in the Brazilian justice system.” Eduardo Leite, a conservative presidential hopeful and governor of Rio Grande do Sul, echoed this sentiment, stating he could not accept “another country trying to interfere in our institutions.”
The Magnitsky sanctions, named after Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, have historically targeted individuals accused of serious human rights abuses, such as those involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi or the repression of the Uyghur ethnic group in China. Legal experts and human rights advocates were thus stunned to see them deployed against a judge in Latin America’s largest democracy. Thiago Amparo, an international law and human rights professor at Brazil’s Getúlio Vargas Foundation, remarked that the sanctions revealed “Trump’s distorted view of what a human rights violation is.” He argued that equating a fair trial for an alleged coup plotter with “torture, genocide or other grave violations … to which laws such as Magnitsky are meant to apply” was deeply misguided.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters have been tried and jailed for their involvement in the January 8, 2023, riots in Brasília, during which the Supreme Court, Congress, and presidential palace were stormed and ransacked. These prosecutions, overseen by Moraes, have become a lightning rod for criticism from both domestic and foreign observers.
With Brazil’s political future hanging in the balance, the intersection of domestic legal battles and international power plays has created a volatile and unpredictable landscape. The coming months will test the resilience of Brazil’s institutions and the resolve of its political actors, as they navigate an unprecedented convergence of internal strife and external pressure.