Trump calls Brazil election a 'disgraceful situation'

Updated / Thursday, 29 Oct 2026 16:39

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US President Donald Trump has described Brazil's presidential election as "disgraceful", stepping up his criticism and declining to say whether he recognised leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory over right wing ally Flávio Bolsonaro.

Senator Bolsonaro fled to the United States to start a self-imposed exile yesterday and insisted that he is his country's rightful leader despite his defeat in the presidential run-off.

"I think the election was a disgrace in Brazil," Mr Trump told reporters when asked if he accepted Mr Lula da Silva's victory, as the US leader headed on a midterm election campaign trip.

"I don't want to comment on it right now, but I thought the election was a very great embarrassment to the people of Brazil," Mr Trump added.

The president added: "I watched the election.

"I let it be.

"I was asked not to take sides by the president, the current president.

"I didn't take sides, but when I watched what went down in Brazil, it was a disgrace."

Mr Trump pointed to the reaction of the Brazilian stock market, which dropped after Mr Lula da Silva's victory, adding: "I thought it was a very disgraceful situation for Brazil."

The US president's stance appeared to have hardened from as recently as yesterday, when he said Brazil's election was "very strange" but added that he "won't get involved" in Mr Bolsonaro's claim to the presidency.

Mr Bolsonaro's defiance on arrival in Florida signalled continued upheaval for Brazil, where Mr Lula da Silva won a dramatic run-off election Sunday.

"I am the elected president and the criminals who stole Brazil's election are part of a criminal organisation that has established a tyranny," Mr Bolsonaro said in the statement published on his X account, criticising "electoral fraud".

In a subsequent statement, he revised his claim, saying he is the "leader", rather than "president".

Mr Trump's administration has strong links to Mr Bolsonaro and his hard right father, Jair Bolsonaro - who is under house arrest in Brazil after attempting to overturn his own electoral loss to Mr Lula da Silva in 2022.

The US president's reaction has meanwhile sparked speculation about how he will react to a possible Republican loss of Congress in tight US midterm elections that take place next week.

Mr Trump has ramped up allegations of election fraud, reviving memories of his baseless refusal to accept his 2020 election defeat and the subsequent attack on the US Capitol by his supporters on 6 January 2021.

Details of how Mr Bolsonaro, accompanied by his wife and daughters, made it to US soil are still emerging.

He is under investigation in his home country over alleged corruption and money laundering.

With his current parliamentary immunity about to expire, he was ordered to surrender his passports but left anyway, reaching the United States via Argentina and Ecuador.

The US Department of Homeland Security - which under Mr Trump has led a major campaign against what it calls an immigrant "invasion" from Latin America - said in a statement that the Bolsonaro family members were inspected and cleared "with applicable immigration laws and procedures".

Mr Lula da Silva, who won Sunday's election with 51.8% of the vote, called Mr Bolsonaro's departure a "shameful" act.