Brazil senator: Bolsonaro attended meeting to overturn 2022 election

Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A Brazilian senator said he attended a December meeting with ex-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to plot how to overturn the 2022 presidential election, which Bolsonaro lost to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The revelation offers another twist to the Jan. 8 political riots in Brazil, which mirrored the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol in support of former President Donald Trump. Brazil is investigating.

Sen. Marcos do Val said Thursday he attended the meeting with Bolsonaro, which was called by former legislator Daniel Silveira. He said the former president's supporters would work to discredit the election by causing doubts about the neutrality of the election court and the vote count.

He said Bolsonaro did not speak at the meeting but did not discourage the scheme.

"It was Daniel [Silveira] who spoke," do Val said, according to CNN. "I said I would think about it later and make contact. It was very clear that he was in a position to manipulate and have [Bolsonaro] buy into his idea if a senator accepted the mission."

Do Val said Silveira wanted him to secretly record the country's leading electoral official, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, into making incriminating statements so he could be removed.

De Moraes had Silveira arrested on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro. He had previously been held for threatening electoral officials and disobeying court orders.

Bolsonaro, who has been in the United States since late last year, has repeatedly questioned the accuracy of the election and the legitimacy of the current president. On Tuesday, Bolsonaro applied for a visa extension that would allow him to remain in the United States.

Some U.S. lawmakers have argued that Bolsonaro should be removed from the United State and returned to Brazil since he is under investigation.