Brazil denies visas to U.S. delegation aiming to im
The Washington Post reports:
“The U.S. delegation had planned to visit the Brazilian capital and cast doubt on the integrity of the voting system before a presidential election this fall, officials said.”
By Marina Dias, Terrence McCoy and Samantha Schmidt
BRASÍLIA — Brazil has denied visas to two senior State Department officials that the Trump administration planned to dispatch on a mission to cast doubt on the fairness and integrity of the country’s electoral system before millions of Brazilians vote in a presidential election on Oct. 4, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
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A U.S. State Department delegation, including Trump political appointees Riley M. Barnes, an assistant secretary, and Samuel Samson, a deputy assistant secretary, had planned to depart for Brasília, the capital, in coming days, according to a senior State Department official and three Brazilian officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
But Brazilian officials, apprised of the plans, denied the Americans permission to travel, the Foreign Ministry said. The U.S. officials applied for visas through the Brazilian consulate in Washington, saying they planned to hold “meetings with authorities involved in the electoral process,” Brazilian officials said.
Samson has traveled from Africa to Europe, promoting President Donald Trump’s brand of conservative politics and cultivating ties to right-wing groups, at times alienating establishment politicians.
It was unclear whom the U.S. diplomats had planned to meet or how they would impugn a system long seen as an electoral standard-bearer in South America, returning results within hours of Brazilians casting their ballots.
Two senior Brazilian officials told The Washington Post on Thursday that they had recently learned of what they described as the American “ploy” and had vowed to block the U.S. officials from entering the country.
“It is a ploy that is completely incompatible with Brazilian democracy,” said one of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. This official said the Brazilian government would move to “protect our voting system.”
The Brazilian officials said they suspected that the Americans’ goal was to meet with electoral skeptics and produce a report that could be used to delegitimize the nation’s electronic voting system. Samson in the past has produced department reports that critics say brought a partisan lens to human rights issues.
In a statement to The Post, the State Department confirmed that Barnes and Samson were planning to travel to Brasília next week but did not respond to questions about the purpose of the trip or whether the Trump administration was concerned about electoral integrity in Brazil.
Neither Barnes nor Samson returned messages requesting comment.
The attempted mission by the Trump officials marked an escalation in a lengthy feud between the United States and Brazil over the limits of freedom of expression and the criminal case against former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest after being convicted of attempting to lead an armed coup and other charges.
This week, Trump imposed significant tariffs on a range of Brazilian goods. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva responded by calling it a political gambit to help his electoral opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, a son of the former president and a Trump ally.
The U.S. effort also underscores the broader cultural makeover of America’s diplomatic corps, which in the Trump administration has increasingly been deployed to further political goals rather than advance long-standing principles that once superseded partisanship.
“For those of us who lost friends bringing democracy to other countries, it’s incredibly noxious seeing this secretary using American power to undermine credible elections in other countries for ideological purposes,” the senior U.S. State Department official with knowledge of the endeavor said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
“We used to deploy power in dangerous situations for democracy,” the senior State Department official said. “Now we send political appointees to discredit another country’s electoral system.”
The senior official drew a distinction between this diplomatic mission and efforts by the U.S. government in 2022 to fortify Brazilian democracy and avert a military takeover. In the lead-up to that election, Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly sought to sow doubt over Brazil’s electoral system, which he alleged was rife with fraud.
Bolsonaro, a former military officer, simultaneously worked to politicize the Brazilian military and warned of a democratic “rupture” if his power was threatened.
Two days after Bolsonaro proclaimed that “the army is on our side,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke out in support of democracy in Brasília and about the need for civilian control of the military.
The senior official said he saw U.S. intelligence assessments at the time that found “there is no credibility to these accusations against the credibility of Brazil’s electoral system.”
“The U.S. delegation had planned to visit the Brazilian capital and cast doubt on the integrity of the voting system before a presidential election this fall, officials said.”
By Marina Dias, Terrence McCoy and Samantha Schmidt
BRASÍLIA — Brazil has denied visas to two senior State Department officials that the Trump administration planned to dispatch on a mission to cast doubt on the fairness and integrity of the country’s electoral system before millions of Brazilians vote in a presidential election on Oct. 4, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.
A U.S. State Department delegation, including Trump political appointees Riley M. Barnes, an assistant secretary, and Samuel Samson, a deputy assistant secretary, had planned to depart for Brasília, the capital, in coming days, according to a senior State Department official and three Brazilian officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
But Brazilian officials, apprised of the plans, denied the Americans permission to travel, the Foreign Ministry said. The U.S. officials applied for visas through the Brazilian consulate in Washington, saying they planned to hold “meetings with authorities involved in the electoral process,” Brazilian officials said.
Samson has traveled from Africa to Europe, promoting President Donald Trump’s brand of conservative politics and cultivating ties to right-wing groups, at times alienating establishment politicians.
It was unclear whom the U.S. diplomats had planned to meet or how they would impugn a system long seen as an electoral standard-bearer in South America, returning results within hours of Brazilians casting their ballots.
Two senior Brazilian officials told The Washington Post on Thursday that they had recently learned of what they described as the American “ploy” and had vowed to block the U.S. officials from entering the country.
“It is a ploy that is completely incompatible with Brazilian democracy,” said one of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. This official said the Brazilian government would move to “protect our voting system.”
The Brazilian officials said they suspected that the Americans’ goal was to meet with electoral skeptics and produce a report that could be used to delegitimize the nation’s electronic voting system. Samson in the past has produced department reports that critics say brought a partisan lens to human rights issues.
In a statement to The Post, the State Department confirmed that Barnes and Samson were planning to travel to Brasília next week but did not respond to questions about the purpose of the trip or whether the Trump administration was concerned about electoral integrity in Brazil.
Neither Barnes nor Samson returned messages requesting comment.
The attempted mission by the Trump officials marked an escalation in a lengthy feud between the United States and Brazil over the limits of freedom of expression and the criminal case against former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest after being convicted of attempting to lead an armed coup and other charges.
This week, Trump imposed significant tariffs on a range of Brazilian goods. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva responded by calling it a political gambit to help his electoral opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, a son of the former president and a Trump ally.
The U.S. effort also underscores the broader cultural makeover of America’s diplomatic corps, which in the Trump administration has increasingly been deployed to further political goals rather than advance long-standing principles that once superseded partisanship.
“For those of us who lost friends bringing democracy to other countries, it’s incredibly noxious seeing this secretary using American power to undermine credible elections in other countries for ideological purposes,” the senior U.S. State Department official with knowledge of the endeavor said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
“We used to deploy power in dangerous situations for democracy,” the senior State Department official said. “Now we send political appointees to discredit another country’s electoral system.”
The senior official drew a distinction between this diplomatic mission and efforts by the U.S. government in 2022 to fortify Brazilian democracy and avert a military takeover. In the lead-up to that election, Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly sought to sow doubt over Brazil’s electoral system, which he alleged was rife with fraud.
Bolsonaro, a former military officer, simultaneously worked to politicize the Brazilian military and warned of a democratic “rupture” if his power was threatened.
Two days after Bolsonaro proclaimed that “the army is on our side,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke out in support of democracy in Brasília and about the need for civilian control of the military.
The senior official said he saw U.S. intelligence assessments at the time that found “there is no credibility to these accusations against the credibility of Brazil’s electoral system.”
