Brazil Senate President Alcolumbre Refuses to Comment on Moraes' Mendonça Investigation Request

Brazil Senate President Davi Alcolumbre refused on Thursday to comment on Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes' request to investigate Justice André Mendonça. Moraes alleges that Mendonça committed "administrative improbity, abuse of authority, and responsibility crimes" in his handling of the Banco Master and Social Security (INSS) fraud investigations. Alcolumbre told journalists, "I found nothing, I'm sitting in that chair running the session and I don't know anything."

In the ruling given in the fake news inquiry, Moraes stated that judicial impartiality was broken and that Mendonça acted in favor of specific political groups, even directing investigations against him and Alcolumbre for "personal and political reasons." Alcolumbre also criticized opposition pressures for an impeachment process against Moraes.

Alcolumbre shifted the subject to a different scandal, saying, "They forgot the 130 million Reais to make the movie, they only talk about other people." This amount refers to the 130 million Reais agreed upon by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) with banker Daniel Vorcaro for the film "Dark Horse," which tells the story of the 2018 Bolsonaro election victory.