Brazil's Congress will examine the intelligence reports at the center of the conflict among justices of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the country's top court. Senator Nelsinho Trad (PSD-MS), who chairs the Joint Committee for Oversight of Intelligence Activities (CCAI), will convene an extraordinary session to debate the documents, according to the column Painel of the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo on Saturday (Sept 12).
The meeting is not expected before the STF session scheduled for Tuesday (Sept 15). According to the news site Metrópoles, Trad rejected pressure to hold the session on Monday (Sept 14) and is considering a new date once the justices have spoken, to keep the debate from being shaped by the heat of the court's internal dispute. Inside the committee, the view is that it must exercise oversight with independence and caution, without turning the session into a stage for political confrontation.
Who pushed for a date
Behind the scenes, Senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN) and Representative Marcel van Hattem (Novo-RS) had pushed for a Monday session and told colleagues and journalists it would happen, even though neither has the authority to set the date. The opposition wants the committee to establish under what circumstances the reports were produced and demands explanations about the leadership of the Federal Police, Metrópoles reports. Van Hattem is also collecting signatures for a joint investigative committee of Congress, which lawmakers have nicknamed the "spying CPMI", and Marinho, who coordinates Flávio Bolsonaro's presidential campaign, is organizing the same effort in the Senate, according to CNN Brasil. Even if the inquiry is never installed, lawmakers heard by the network expect the push to feed the opposition's campaign rhetoric.
The reports at the center of the crisis
The documents are attributed to Federal Police intelligence and reportedly revealed the monitoring of conversations of Justice André Mendonça and the government's chief legal adviser, Attorney General of the Union Jorge Messias, according to CNN Brasil. One of the reports states it has no "evidentiary value". It is not printed on Federal Police letterhead and carries no signature from any police delegate or officer.
The document served as the basis for Justice Alexandre de Moraes to request an investigation of Mendonça for suspected administrative misconduct and abuse of authority. According to Moraes, in measures issued in the operations "Sem Desconto" and "Compliance Zero", Mendonça usurped the Federal Police's investigative powers, acted with bias and broke the chain of custody of seized evidence. The request came days after Mendonça himself asked for an investigation into Moraes' conduct. The report surfaced after a court-ordered disclosure of records showed that Daniel Vorcaro, the owner of Banco Master, consulted Moraes about a possible escape from the country.
When it takes place, the CCAI session will be closed to the public, as required by the committee's rules. Congress is in a recess observed during the election season, but senators are mobilizing to be in Brasília next week to secure a quorum to vote on the matter. The next step is the STF session on Tuesday (Sept 15). New rulings by the justices, Metrópoles reports, should help define the facts the committee will examine.