Rubio Denies US Help With Bolsonaro Flight

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, during a G20 foreign ministers' meeting, that the U.S. government did not facilitate Flávio Bolsonaro's departure from Brazil. Bolsonaro arrived in Miami on Wednesday, after losing the Oct. 25 presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Rubio said Bolsonaro previously held a visa and that President Trump decided he would be paroled into the country if he reached a port of entry. "We didn't facilitate anything," Rubio said. "The president made clear that if he arrived in the United States at a port of entry, that he would be paroled into the country, and he was." He said U.S. officials were not involved in arrangements for leaving. Justice Alexandre de Moraes had ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports. Bolsonaro faces Brazilian investigations for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. In a Wednesday letter he declared himself Brazil's true leader; on Friday he repeated persecution claims in an Instagram livestream. His father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup. Flávio will lose his Senate seat Feb. 1. Rubio met Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday and said he expects to see Brazilian officials again in France in November. CONTESTED: The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump adviser Jason Miller helped arrange a private flight; Miller declined to comment, per Folha de S.Paulo citing the Times. Rubio's denial covered U.S. government facilitation of the departure, not private arrangements.