Bolsonaro explains about the pen drive

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BRASÍLIA — Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Friday morning, 18, after being targeted by precautionary measures by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), that he was unaware of the existence of the pen drive seized at his home by the Federal Police (PF) earlier. He said he will ask his wife, former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, what it is.

In addition to the pen drive, the Federal Police found around US$14,000 and R$8,000 in Bolsonaro's house in Brasília and a copy of an action against STF minister Alexandre de Moraes in the United States.

When asked about the seized object, Bolsonaro stated that a PF agent, during the search, “asked to go to the bathroom and came back with a pen drive in his hand.”

"I've never opened a flash drive in my life. I don't even have a laptop at home to use flash drives. We worry about that. If there was something compromising... I'm not a criminal, but if there was, would I be there to be available?" he said in the parking lot of the building that houses the Liberal Party headquarters, where he went after stopping at the State Penitentiary Administration Secretariat to have an ankle bracelet fitted—one of the precautionary measures imposed.

When asked if he was suggesting the object was planted by the police, Bolsonaro denied it:"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just surprised. I'm going to ask my wife if the flash drive was hers."

The former president's son, federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), even asked if the device was"planted evidence" on his X profile (formerly Twitter). However, the Federal Police officers who participated in the operation wore body cameras during the searches of the former president's home. The goal was to obtain a record of the footage and counter accusations of irregularities in the operation.