{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-welch-shaheen-urge-trump-admin-to-stop-meddling-in-brazils-elections-recognize-certified-outcome-and-support-brazils-democracy", "Kaine, Welch, Shaheen Urge Trump Admin to Stop Meddling in Brazil\u2019s Elections, Recognize Certified Outcome and Support Brazil\u2019s Democracy", "2026-09-29", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", "kaine", "https://www.kaine.senate.gov/news", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations (SFRC) Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women\u2019s Issues, along with Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), sent a letter raising concerns that the Trump Administration is using diplomatic, economic, and political pressure to deliberately weaken Brazil\u2019s democratic institutions ahead of its October 4, 2026, presidential election.\n\nIn their letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Senators outline how the Trump Administration\u2019s actions undermine confidence in Brazil\u2019s electoral process ahead of its upcoming election and inflict further damage on the United States\u2019 relationship with a strategic ally and trading partner. The Senators also highlight how the Administration\u2019s actions reflect a broader and deeply troubling pattern of interference in recent electoral processes across Latin America, as seen during Argentina\u2019s midterm elections and the presidential elections in Honduras and Colombia.\n\nThe senators detailed how, over the course of President Trump\u2019s second term, U.S. officials have engaged in a campaign of interference and destabilization in Brazil.\n\n\u201cThis effort first escalated sharply during the summer of 2025, with the administration deploying tariffs and targeted sanctions to attempt to shape the Brazilian Supreme Court\u2019s verdict in the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro on charges of attempting to foment a military coup to stay in power. Despite some subsequent measures of de-escalation in the months that followed, including direct and cordial talks between Presidents Trump and Lula, the campaign directed at Brazil\u2019s authorities resumed with the appointment of Darren Beattie as a senior advisor on Brazil issues in the State Department. Beattie, a noted far-right extremist and white supremacist, came into this post with a record of public statements signaling an overt ideological commitment to undermining Brazil\u2019s democratic institutions and advancing the interests of the Brazilian far-right,\" said the senators.\n\n\u201cMore recently, the administration again targeted Brazilian imports with steep tariffs following a Section 301 investigation by the U.S. Trade Representative. The investigation was reportedly initiated at President Trump\u2019s direction at the same moment that he publicly criticized Brazilian court actions against former President Bolsonaro and U.S. social media companies. The administration\u2019s most recent actions point toward an effort to interfere with, and potentially undermine, Brazil's general election in October. Senator and presidential candidate Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro\u2019s recent Oval Office meeting with President Trump, undertaken while attempting to mitigate a domestic political scandal, underscored the administration's willingness to insert itself in the election,\" continued the senators.\n\n\u201cImmediately following the announcement of the election results in 2022, the United States moved swiftly\u2014in coordination with allies and partners\u2014to recognize President Lula\u2019s victory, helping to deny legitimacy to efforts to contest or reverse the outcome. Following the January 8, 2023, attacks on Brazil\u2019s democratic institutions, the United States stood firmly with Brazil\u2019s newly elected government and played a key role in rallying support across the region for Brazil\u2019s efforts to defend its hard-won 1988 constitution and the democratic institutions it established,\" the senators stressed.\n\nGiven the administration\u2019s actions, the senators requested answers to the following questions:\n\nHow does the Department coordinate its democracy and human rights objectives with regional partners in the Western Hemisphere, particularly regarding technical assistance or monitoring of electoral and judicial processes?\n\nWill the administration commit to recognizing the certified outcome of Brazil's 2026 democratic elections and to supporting normal diplomatic relations with whichever candidate is freely and fairly chosen by the Brazilian people?\n\nThe senators' full letter is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-30T10:57:52Z", "2026-09-30T10:59:04Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-welch-shaheen-urge-trump-admin-to-stop-meddling-in-brazils-elections-recognize-certified-outcome-and-support-brazils-democracy"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.0896869245916605, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}