Washington — The Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned a Brazilian Supreme Court justice who is overseeing the case against former President Jair Bolsonaro, claiming the judge is responsible for human rights violations and politicized prosecutions.
The sanctions announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent target Alexandre de Moraes, who has served on the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court since 2017. The Trump administration accused de Moraes of abusing his authority to target political opponents, including Bolsonaro, an ally of Mr. Trump’s.
The justice also ordered a shutdown of X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, in Brazil last year. Access to the site was restored last October.
“Alexandre de Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against U.S. and Brazilian citizens and companies,” Bessent said in a statement. “De Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions — including against former President Jair Bolsonaro. Today’s action makes clear that Treasury will continue to hold accountable those who threaten U.S. interests and the freedoms of our citizens.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. is sanctioning de Moraes for “serious” human rights abuses, including detaining people without bringing charges and for infringing on freedom of expression.
Rubio said de Moraes also “abused his authority by engaging in a targeted and politically motivated effort designed to silence political critics through the issuance of secret orders compelling online platforms, including U.S. social media companies, to ban the accounts of individuals for posting protected speech.”
“The United States will use all appropriate and effective diplomatic, political, and legal instruments to protect the speech of Americans from foreign malign actors who would seek to undermine it,” he said in a statement.
Bolsonaro is on trial for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to remain in office after Brazil’s 2022 election. He was indicted in November, and prosecutors accused Brazil’s former leader and seven others of seeking to “violently overthrow the democratic order.” Bolsonaro lost the 2022 race to his left-wing opponent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He has denied the allegations and called the prosecution a “witch hunt.”
Mr. Trump has publicly defended Bolsonaro and called the treatment of him an “international disgrace.” In a July 9 letter to Lula posted to social media, the president said the trial involving Bolsonaro is a “witch hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”
Mr. Trump also slapped 50% tariffs on Brazilian products imported into the U.S. on Wednesday. In an executive order imposing the levies, the president said the actions of Brazil’s government are “repugnant to the moral and political values of democratic and free societies and conflict with the policy of the United States to promote democratic governments throughout the world, the principle of free expression and free and fair elections, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.”
The directive mentioned de Moraes by name and said his actions “chill and limit expression in the United States, violate human rights, and undermine the interest that the United States has in protecting its citizens and companies at home and abroad.”
The president had said in a letter to Lula earlier this month warning of the tariffs that his administration concluded that the U.S. “must move away from the longstanding, and very unfair trade relationship engendered by Brazil’s tariff, and non-tariff, policies and trade barriers.”
The U.S. has a trade surplus with Brazil and exported roughly $49 billion worth of goods to the country last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Brazil exported roughly $42 billion in products to the U.S. in 2024.
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