Ministers Alexandre de Moraes and Flávio Dino voted not only to convict former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and seven other defendants at the heart of the coup plot. They also took the opportunity to reject the amnesty that is expected to be discussed in the Supreme Federal Court (STF) if approved by Parliament. However, statements from the US government on Tuesday, the 9th, made it clear that, despite the defense's slim chances of success at trial and the unlikely consolidation of an alternative to free the defendants through Parliament or a presidential pardon in the future, the coup, the same one being tried today, remains alive.

While Justice Alexandre de Moraes was voting to convict, the U.S. Embassy in Brazil republished a message from the State Department's number two official promising"appropriate measures" against Moraes. The worst was to come later, when White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responded to a question about possible new sanctions against Brazil due to the trial as follows:"I don't have any additional action to share with you today, but I can tell you that this is a priority for the administration, and the president is not afraid to use the economic and military power of the United States of America to protect freedom of expression around the world."

The comment wasn't random. The question was posed by Michael Shellenberger, the American journalist who has been making accusations against Moraes and presenting a good deal of Bolsonaro's pro-Bolsonaro rhetoric in the United States. The comment quickly spread to one of those who has been working to interfere with the Trump administration in the country: journalist Paulo Figueiredo, one of those accused of participating in the coup plot.

During the trial, Moraes and Dino emphasized how Jair Bolsonaro's statements and the group's orchestrated actions on social media were used to threaten the other branches of government throughout the coup, trying to force the Judiciary to act as the rapporteur calls the"criminal organization." This is not unlike their current objective, with the support of a foreign government, which is even talking about using military force to try to influence the trial.

This Tuesday, if Justice Luiz Fux agrees to the conviction, even with disagreements on sentencing, a majority will be formed, sealing Bolsonaro's fate in this trial. If he votes for acquittal, it's hard to imagine that he'll be joined by Cármen Lúcia or Cristiano Zanin, especially the former, who has demonstrated that she will also be tough on the accused. Bolsonaro will be convicted.

With Dino and Moraes already rejecting any possibility of not deeming a possible amnesty or pardon unconstitutional, the only option, as Valdemar Costa Neto frequently confesses, is to request external intervention, perhaps by military means. To rescue the defendants, bypassing the judiciary. This is exactly what the coup plotters wanted, who, according to the Attorney General's Office, acted against democracy from July 8, 2021, to January 8, 2023. The coup is still ongoing.