The Biden administration hasn’t received any requests from Brazil to extradite former President Jair Bolsonaro, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
(Bloomberg) — The Biden administration hasn’t received any requests from Brazil to extradite former President Jair Bolsonaro, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the White House isn’t in direct contact with Bolsonaro and “can’t speak definitively” about his whereabouts. The former president has been spotted in the Orlando, Florida, area recently, including at a KFC restaurant and a Publix grocery store.
Some Democratic lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden to extradite Bolsonaro after thousands of his supporters stormed the country’s capital on Sunday in an incident reminiscent of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. Security forces drove the rioters out and regained control after several hours.
“We have not as of yet received any official request from the Brazilian government related to this issue,” Sullivan said. “If and when we do we’ll deal with it and if and when we have any information to provide, we will do it.”
The administration so far has declined to say what type of visa Bolsonaro has or whether it will kick him out of the US without a request from the Brazilian government. Asked if the US was waiting for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government to reach out, Sullivan said “I don’t want you to take that as the implication.”
“The United States takes action on visas all the time, for all kinds of reasons,” Sullivan said. “On this particular case, this particular individual, again, I have to proceed with extreme caution in terms of how I talk about it because of the legal issues and precedent issues involved.”
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