Brazil’s attorney general has called for an investigation into alleged US interference in the country’s domestic politics through funding directed towards far-right causes.
Jorge Messias made the request after a report said the administration of US President Donald Trump had planned to award $1 million to right-wing civil society groups opposing Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Mr Messias said foreign meddling “cannot be tolerated”, describing the report as “an important alert for Brazilian sovereignty”.
“The information is especially serious in light of Brazil’s electoral process and the recent episodes of external pressure on our institutions,” he added in a social media post.
US funding allegations emerge before Brazil election
The allegations have emerged as left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva seeks re-election in a closely fought contest. Recent polls have put Mr Lula and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro virtually level ahead of the first round of voting on October 4.
Mr Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, is a leading contender to challenge Mr Lula. He met Mr Trump at the White House in May and has promised closer ties with the United States.
Mr Lula has instead presented himself as a critic of what he describes as Mr Trump’s interventionist approach to politics and security in Latin America. The US president has endorsed several right-wing candidates ahead of elections across the region, at times linking potential economic support to voting results.
The report said the Trump administration had sought to redirect $175 million from a State Department human rights fund to far-right causes around the world.
Among the alleged recipients were groups supporting white Afrikaners in South Africa, whom the US administration has portrayed as victims of a “genocide”, as well as initiatives in Brazil intended to oppose what Washington described as “lawfare and censorship”.
Brazil’s Supreme Court has faced sustained criticism from political figures on the right in Brazil and the US, particularly following Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction in 2025 over his involvement in an alleged coup plot intended to overturn his defeat by Mr Lula in the 2022 election.
Mr Bolsonaro and his allies, including Mr Trump, have characterised the case as political persecution. Mr Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September 2025.
Mr Trump previously imposed 50 per cent tariffs on some Brazilian goods, citing the prosecution of the former president, although those tariffs have since been removed. He also revoked the visas of Brazilian judicial officials involved in the case and imposed short-lived sanctions on Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
In a letter announcing the tariffs, Mr Trump called the treatment of Mr Bolsonaro “an international disgrace” and described him as a “Highly Respected Leader throughout the World”.
Another of Mr Bolsonaro’s sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro, was sentenced to more than four years in prison in June after a court ruled that he had lobbied for US interference in his father’s case.
