Brazil Demands Investigation Into Alleged U.S. Funding of Far-Right Groups Ahead of Election

A report alleging that the Trump administration directed funds toward right-wing groups surfaces ahead of Brazil’s presidential election.

Brazil’s Attorney General Jorge Messias has urged law enforcement to investigate alleged attempts by the United States to meddle in the country’s domestic politics by channeling funds to far-right causes.

Messias announced the request for a probe on Thursday, following a report in The Guardian indicating that the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump planned to allocate $1 million to right-wing civil society groups opposed to Brazil’s Supreme Court.

In a social media post, Messias declared that foreign interference “cannot be tolerated” and described 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,” the attorney general added.

The development comes amid a highly contested presidential race in which leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is seeking re-election. Lula has repeatedly drawn attention to efforts by Trump to bolster far-right allies across Latin America, framing them as threats to regional sovereignty.

Trump has endorsed several right-wing candidates in the region, at times linking potential economic assistance to electoral outcomes. He has also maintained close ties with the family of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula in the 2022 election.

Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, is a leading contender to challenge Lula in this year’s vote. Recent polls show the two virtually tied ahead of the first round scheduled for October 4.

Flávio Bolsonaro met with Trump at the White House in May and has pledged closer relations with Washington, while Lula has positioned himself as a critic of Trump’s interventionist approach to Latin American politics and security.

The Guardian report, published Wednesday, states that the Trump administration sought to redirect $175 million from the State Department’s human rights fund toward far-right causes globally.

Alleged recipients included groups advocating for white Afrikaners in South Africa—whom the Trump administration falsely portrayed as victims of a “genocide”—and organizations in Brazil working to counter what the U.S. described as “lawfare and censorship.”

Brazil’s Supreme Court has faced sustained criticism from the political right, both domestically and in the United States. Much of the backlash stems from the 2025 conviction of Jair Bolsonaro for his role in an alleged coup plot aimed at overturning his 2022 election defeat.

Bolsonaro and his allies, including Trump, have characterized the prosecution as political persecution. Citing the case, Trump imposed 50-percent tariffs on certain Brazilian goods last year, though he later rescinded them. In a letter announcing the tariffs, Trump denounced Bolsonaro’s prosecution as “an international disgrace.”

The Trump administration also revoked the visas of Brazilian judicial officials involved in the case and briefly sanctioned Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, accusing him of conducting “an unlawful witch hunt” against right-wing voices.

Bolsonaro was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison in September 2025. In June, one of his sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro, received a sentence of more than four years after a court found he had lobbied for U.S. interference in his father’s case.

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