Breaking
| May 27, 2026
Flavio Bolsonaro, the senator and son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, met with President Donald Trump in Miami on Tuesday — a high-profile show of solidarity that comes as his own presidential campaign fights for survival amid a spiraling scandal involving alleged irregular Covid-era procurement contracts.
The meeting, described by both sides as an “affirmation of the Brazil-U.S. alliance,” took place at Trump’s Doral resort as the Trump administration intensifies its Latin America outreach ahead of this year’s hemispheric summits. Images from the event showed both men smiling, with Trump later telling reporters Flavio was “a tremendous fighter” and would make an “incredible president.”
But the optics mask a campaign in trouble. Flavio Bolsonaro — known as “03” for his father — surged in early polls on the strength of the Bolsonaro family brand and a fierce anti-left message. That momentum has stalled. A wave of reporting since late April has linked Flavio to a web of companies that received inflated contracts for Covid supplies during the pandemic. Brazilian federal police have opened a formal investigation. His approval ratings among voters under 35 have dropped 11 points in six weeks.
“This is not a meeting between two candidates. This is a message to the region — that the anti-left coalition has a U.S. stamp of approval,” said Ricardo Lopes, a political analyst at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro. “Whether that helps Flavio inside Brazil is a completely different question.”
The scandal has created an uncomfortable dynamic for the elder Bolsonaro, who has maintained a near-total grip on Brazil’s right-wing ecosystem for years. While publicly backing his son’s campaign, sources close to the family told Brazilian broadcaster Globo that private discussions have been “heated” — with some advisors urging Jair to reduce his direct involvement to avoid a negative spillover effect if charges are filed.
The timing is especially delicate. Brazil’s next presidential election is still months away, but advance voting in the diaspora and military overseas stations begins in September — a mechanism that historically benefits high-profile, internationally recognized candidates. Flavio’s team is acutely aware that any criminal charge before then could disqualify him from the military ballot, a key early-vote bank.
Washington’s embrace of Flavio is also drawing criticism from opposition figures in Brasília. Former Lula minister Fernando Haddad called the Miami meeting “a foreign power intervening directly in Brazil’s electoral calendar” and said he would file a formal complaint with the OAS electoral integrity mission.
For now, the meeting has provided Flavio with a welcome headlines distraction from the procurement scandal. His social media operation — which reaches an estimated 28 million Brazilians across WhatsApp chains and Instagram — has been flooded since Tuesday with images of the Trump embrace. Whether it translates into polling movement will become clear in the next fortnight.
The White House has declined to comment on whether any financial or logistical support was discussed. A State Department spokesperson said only that the meeting reflected “the strong people-to-people ties between the United States and Brazil.”
Diego Vargas is a breaking news correspondent for Media Hook covering Latin America.