In a press conference on Sunday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro threatened a journalist to punch him repeatedly in the face when he asked Bolsonaro about his wife’s link to the alleged corruption.
‘I so want to pound your mouth with punches,’ the President said after a reporter from O Globo news organization posed the question about the deposits made in the account of his wife, first lady Michelle Bolsonaro by a former aide to one of his sons, reported Reuters.
The President met the group of reporters as a part of his Sunday visit to the Metropolitan Cathedral in Brasilia. He ignored protests from other journalists after the remarks and left without making further comments.
The reporter asked for the President’s comment on the report published in the magazine Crusoe linking First Lady to Fabricio Queiroz, a retired police officer, and a former adviser to her son Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.
Both Queiroz and Flavio Bolsonaro are currently being investigated for alleged involvement in a scheme that allegedly swindled pay from government employees, during the time when Flavio was a regional lawmaker in Rio de Janeiro and Jair Bolsonaro presidency win in 2019. According to the report, Queiroz had deposited 72,000 Reais in checks in the first lady’s account between 2011 and 2018.
In response to the President’s aggressive behaviour, O Globo released an official statement saying that such intimidation is unacceptable and only shows that the President disregards the duty of any public servant.
‘GLOBO repudiates President Jair Bolsonaro’s aggression against a newspaper reporter who just performed his role, in a totally professional manner, this Sunday,’ the statement read.
