Brazil orders probe into alleged US funding targeting Supreme Court ahead of election

Federal authorities asked to investigate

The Brazilian government took formal steps on 1 October 2026 to investigate allegations that the United States government funded campaigns against Brazil's judiciary. The Office of the Attorney General of the Union (AGU) requested that both the Federal Police and the Prosecutor General's Office open formal inquiries into whether public money from Washington was directed toward undermining the Federal Supreme Court (STF). Attorney General Jorge Messias stated that external interference in domestic matters cannot be tolerated, describing the findings as a serious alert regarding national sovereignty.

The information is especially serious in light of Brazil's electoral process and the recent episodes of external pressure on our institutions.

Scope of the State Department funding claims

The request follows reporting published on 30 September 2026 detailing an initiative within the administration of United States President Donald Trump to direct $1 million toward civil society groups opposed to the Brazilian Supreme Court. The project, titled "Combate à Litigância Deliberativa e à Censura no Brasil", sought to challenge what US officials described as judicial overreach and censorship by Brazilian courts. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who served as rapporteur in the trial that convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro for an attempted coup, is specifically named in the funding context.

The Brazilian grant is part of a broader set of 43 grants totaling between $175 million and $176.9 million from the State Department Human Rights and Democracy Fund. Reports indicate that other allocations targeted conservative groups internationally, including organizations representing white Afrikaners in South Africa. The published reports did not identify any specific Brazilian entity as having already received the funds from Washington.

Constitutional law and election timing

Brazilian legal authorities stressed that constitutional law strictly forbids foreign intervention in sovereign matters. While the constitution protects freedom of speech and the right to criticize public officials, it prohibits foreign entities or governments from funding or directing domestic political organizations. The AGU emphasized that channeling foreign state capital to target the judicial system violates the constitutional principles of independence and non-intervention.

If proven, the receipt of foreign capital to promote organized and systematic attacks against national sovereignty and the functioning of the institutions of the Brazilian Justice System, through the instrumentalization of international funds diverted from their original purpose of protecting Human Rights, could reveal a structure of external interference in the internal affairs of the Brazilian State.

Diplomatic and electoral background

The inquiry arrives days before the first round of Brazil's presidential election on 4 October 2026. Incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is running for re-election against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of Jair Bolsonaro. Recent pre-election polls show Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro virtually tied. Flávio Bolsonaro visited Washington to meet with Trump at the White House in May 2026, pledging closer bilateral ties if elected. Meanwhile, Jair Bolsonaro remains under house arrest following his conviction. Lula has positioned his campaign as a defense of national sovereignty against foreign political intervention, criticizing Washington's alignment with right-wing movements across Latin America.