Donald Trump has commented on the presidential election in Brazil for the first time.
Norway’s state broadcaster NRK has turned the comment into a separate article, with Trump in the headline and a subheading stating that he suggested the election was rigged, without presenting any evidence.
The President has, admittedly, told journalists that he thought it looked like yet another rigged election, and NRK emphasises that he did not provide any evidence to support this.
However, Trump said more in the same response, and this is not mentioned in NRK’s report. He said that he did not take sides and had not supported any of the candidates. When asked whether the US would intervene, he replied that he governs the US, not Brazil. His criticism concerned the extension of the election and the way the votes were counted. This is reported by English-language media such as IBTimes and Tribune.
NRK reports on this, stating that Trump is making unsubstantiated claims, but does not explain what he is actually reacting to. The extension of the election is mentioned in the article, but only as the reason why Flávio Bolsonaro has called for a re-run; it is not linked to Trump’s statement. According to CBS, Bolsonaro has called for the election to be annulled.
NRK also reports that Bolsonaro has been asked to hand in his passports. The next paragraph states that his father, Jair Bolsonaro, has been sentenced to just over 27 years in prison for attempting a coup d’état. The surrender of the passport, however, relates to an investigation into Flávio Bolsonaro himself, for possible money laundering via gambling companies, according to The Guardian. This is not mentioned in NRK’s report.
NRK concludes by noting that Bolsonaro’s supporters on social media have asked Trump to come to their aid.
