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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro seemed to be smoothing rough edges with the press in recent weeks, but he verbally attacked a journalist again this Sunday. This time he said that he wanted to “punch the face out” of a professional from the newspaper O Globo who asked him why Fabricio Queiroz, a former adviser to his son Flávio Bolsonaro (senator from Rio de Janeiro) transferred 89,000 reais (around 16,000 reais). dollars) to the account of the first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro. Queiroz is investigated for appropriating the salaries of employees who worked with Flavio while he was a state deputy for Rio de Janeiro, between 2003 and 2018.
At first, the president refuted the journalist by hinting at the alleged monthly transfers made by Darío Messer, a prisoner in the Lava Jato operation, to the Marinho family, owner of the Globo chain and the O Globo newspaper . Following the journalist's insistence on the payments made to the first lady, Bolsonaro replied: "It makes me want to punch your face with my fists, okay?" The president was then questioned by another reporter about this new attack on a professional of the press, but he ignored the questions.
With a history of verbal attacks on journalists, live or on social networks, the president this time encountered an unexpected reaction. Journalists from other media, artists and politicians repeated on Twitter the question that the threatened journalist did not want to answer: "President, why did your wife Michelle receive 89,000 reais from Queiroz?" There were more than 1 million trills during Sunday, a new message with the question every 40 seconds, according to the specialist in social networks, Fabio Malini. The topic ended up in the trending topics of the social network and even inspired the artists. Cartoonist Laerte drew the question that the Brazilian president did not want to answer.
This Monday, Bolsonaro once again offended the press at the Planalto Palace. During a talk about covid-19, he said that the media only do "bad things" and that they had unleashed him when he said he was strong for the virus because of his past as an athlete. "If you take an asshole among you [journalists], who only do evil things, the chance of survival is much lower than mine," he provoked.
The president seemed to be seeking pacification after the crises that he himself generated in recent months with his attacks on journalists. In the first three months of this year, Bolsonaro made 245 attacks against journalism, according to the National Federation of Journalists, including a cry for a journalist to shut up in front of his constituents. “It is regrettable that, once again, the president reacts in an aggressive and uncontrolled way to a question from a journalist. This attitude does not contribute anything to the democratic environment and freedom of the press provided for in the Constitution, ”protested Marcelo Rech, president of the National Association of Newspapers. "It is an attempt to intimidate the press, thus trying to prevent uncomfortable questions," said the president of the Brazilian Press Association, Paulo Jeronimo.
A government under pressure
The scandal involving Fabricio Queiroz, a former adviser to the Bolsonaro family, leaves Planalto under pressure. The main investigation is against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who, like Queiroz, is a suspect in a case of appropriation of part of the salary of his employees and alleged money laundering. The plot reached the first lady through 21 checks from Queiroz deposited in her account, according to a report by Crusoé magazine . The transactions were carried out between 2011 and 2018, and were identified when the justice lifted Queiroz's bank secrecy.
In December 2018, when Bolsonaro had not yet assumed the presidency, a payment of 24,000 reais ($ 4,200) was made public to the first lady, Bolsonaro then said that it was part of the payment of a loan to his son's former advisor. Since the new values were revealed, Bolsonaro has not given further explanations.