Bolsonaro attended meeting about plot to keep him in power, senator says

The recording would then be used to have De Moraes arrested, and prevent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking over as president on 1 January, Do Val claimed.

These attempts seemingly culminated in the 8 January attack on the capital, Brasília, in which thousands of Bolsonaro supporters ransacked government buildings in what is being treated as an attempted power grab.

Do Val initially made the allegations during a Instagram live on Wednesday night, and an account of the alleged plot was published by the rightwing magazine Veja on Thursday, before Do Val gave his press conference.

Do Val gave a different account at the press conference on Thursday, saying that Silveira did all the talking in the meeting and that there was no mention of the two security agencies.

A military officer and trainer of elite security teams with a strong social media presence, Do Val was elected for an eight-year term as senator in 2018 riding the conservative wave that brought Bolsonaro to power.

At a fundraising event in Florida on Wednesday, Bolsonaro told a crowd of supporters that he plans to remain involved in Brazilian politics. According to political commentators in Brazil, however, members of his Liberal party believe he has lost any chance of trying to return to the presidency at the next election, in 2026.