Flávio Bolsonaro: Reuters sources say he reached the US
· BehindLines newsroom
Reports about Flávio Bolsonaro developed between Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 October 2026. Reuters, in a dispatch carried by Terra, says the Brazilian senator travelled to the United States on Tuesday, according to a close ally and a US government source. CNN Brasil also reports that departure, citing the lawmaker's allies.
Passports cancelled, according to federal police
Federal police cancelled his passports because they were not handed over within the court's deadline, Agência Brasil reports. CNN says both his ordinary and diplomatic passports are affected. According to CNN Brasil he had to surrender them before 11:00 on Tuesday 27 October; Reuters describes a deadline running until the end of that morning.
The order from Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes also barred him from leaving Brazil. Agência Brasil says the decision belongs to proceedings that are not public and was disclosed by the senator himself. Reuters, which saw the text, writes that the judge cited a flight risk and the economic weight of those concerned.
An investigation and a defiant response
Flávio Bolsonaro and lawyer Willer Tomaz are both under investigation for alleged money laundering, the case in which the measure was ordered. Both deny any wrongdoing. In a video posted on Monday, the senator said he would hand over his passports, defend himself and organise the opposition to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won the 25 October runoff. An investigation is not a conviction, and the presumption of innocence applies.
Departure and arrival: what Reuters attributes to its sources
According to Reuters, a senior State Department official said Washington would issue visas to the senator and his family. The agency also quotes an ally of the Bolsonaro family as saying he arrived in Florida. Reuters says the trip defied Moraes's order. These points rest on anonymous sources, and the passages consulted cite no public official confirmation.
President Lula called the departure a "shameful act", according to Reuters. Campaign coordinator Rogério Marinho said he did not know where the senator was. Agência Brasil also relayed, around 15:30 on Tuesday, a claim by businessman Simón Levy, who describes himself as close to Donald Trump; that article's note about no official confirmation dates from that moment and predates the Reuters dispatch.