Brazil's Lula Squares Up to Trump [View all]

(Time) Donald Trump has often likened efforts to hold him accountable by the media, Democrats, investigators, courts, and others, to a “witch hunt.” But recently he’s begun also using the phrase to defend his foreign buddies.

From Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose corruption trial Trump has urged the end of, to most recently former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose affinity for and similarities to the U.S. President have earned him the nickname “Trump of the Tropics,” Trump has tried to wield the influence of the U.S. government to keep his friends from facing charges in their own countries.

While Trump has begun issuing “letters” on social media to foreign leaders announcing new tariff rates, he deviated from the script used for other nations so far when he posted a letter to current Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Truth Social on Wednesday.

“I knew and dealt with former President Jair Bolsonaro, and respected him greatly, as did most other Leaders of Countries,” Trump wrote. “The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace. This Trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/brazil-lula-squares-trump-090230662.html