Former Trump adviser Jason Miller was briefly arrested in Brazil

by

Miller said he was at Brasilia airport when he and members of his traveling group were questioned for three hours by authorities. Miller said on Twitter that he was in the country to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference last week.

“They didn’t accuse us of wrongdoing and we were just told ‘they wanted to talk.'” Miller said. “We informed them that we had nothing to say and that they were finally released to return to the United States.”

CNN has asked the Brazilian government and federal police why Miller and his traveling group were interrogated, but has not yet received a response.

Tuesday is Brazil’s Independence Day and dozens of people gathered in protest in cities across the country, both in support and in opposition to President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is facing an approaching judicial investigation, sinking polls and criticism of his response to the coronavirus pandemic. CNN Brazil reports that Bolsonaro met with Miller at the weekend conference.

Speaking at a rally on Tuesday, Bolsonaro mentioned an “intercepted American” while fighting the Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, without mentioning Miller or his colleagues by name. Bolsonaro has refused to obey any order issued by Moraes, after he decided to open an investigation into the spread of misinformation by Bolsonaro.

“Stop oppressing the Brazilian people. Stop censoring your people,” Bolsonaro said, addressing his comments to Moraes.

Bolsonaro added, without mentioning Miller or any other American, “We are becoming more and more conservative. We are increasingly respecting our law and our Constitution. We will no longer allow people like Alexander de Moraes to continue to whip up our democracy and He didn’t have every opportunity to act with respect for all of us, but he didn’t act that way, as he still doesn’t, because he only intercepted an American citizen to be questioned about anti – democratic acts. our country, sponsored by Alexandre de Moraes “.

Moraes has not publicly responded to Bolsonaro’s claims. It is unclear who or what Brazilian authority ordered Miller and his colleagues to be questioned.

Rival pro-Bolsonaro rallies and protests against Bolsonaro on Tuesday in several cities in Brazil had been peaceful and most had dispersed on Tuesday evening.

CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey contributed to this report.

.Source