Rubio says Trump administration did not help Bolsonaro flee Brazil to US

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio notes President Donald Trump's administration did not assist Brazil's defeated presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro flee the country for the United States after losing a run-off to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Key points

• "We didn't facilitate anything, " Rubio remarked to journalists on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, where diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies were gathered.
• Separately, Trump, who had previously called Brazil's election "rigged", voiced sympathy for Bolsonaro and remarked he could stay in the US indefinitely.
• The Reuters news agency documented that Bolsonaro was admitted to the US under humanitarian parole, a status that typically lasts for one year.
• Trump's comments suggested relations between the Western Hemisphere's two largest democracies may remain strained for some time.
• Bolsonaro has refused to concede the Brazilian election and called the results fraudulent without providing evidence.

Bolsonaro arrived in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, a day after the US Department of State remarked Bolsonaro and his family would be granted US visas after his October 25 election loss. It bucked a trend of conservative electoral wins in Latin America.

Bolsonaro is under investigation in Brazil for alleged corruption, funds laundering and tax evasion, and before leaving, he had been ordered to surrender his passport as police deemed him a flight risk.

"We had word that he had arrived in the United States. He had previously held a visa, and the president created a decision to allow him to enter the country, " Rubio stated.

He continued that the US administration was not "involved directly in any of the moves that were made".

Rubio additionally stated he had seen Brazil's foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday and he projected to see Brazilian office-holders again in November in France during a foreign ministers session.

"I think he got treated very shabbily, very shabbily, so he can stay here as long as he wants, " the president remarked to journalists at his Florida residence on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency documented that Bolsonaro was admitted to the US under humanitarian parole, a status that typically lasts for one year.

After Bolsonaro's run-off loss, he fled Brazil to the US via Argentina and Ecuador on a journey that some US media outlets documented was partly arranged with the assist of Jason Miller, a White House official.

Since arriving in the US, he has asserted to be the true "leader" of Brazil and stated he left the country since he was a victim of "persecution".

For now, rubio says Trump administration did not help Bolsonaro flee Brazil to US remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.