Former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro posted a message of support on Saturday night (Sep 5) for André Mendonça, a justice on Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF). A Senate candidate for the right-wing PL party in the Federal District, home to the capital Brasília, she called the justice "chosen and anointed of the Lord." The Instagram post came one day after court president Luiz Edson Fachin removed from the fake news inquiry a request by Justice Alexandre de Moraes to investigate his colleague.
Michelle wrote that the church loves Mendonça and that people pray, weep and rejoice for him. "You were called for this time. Our greatest joy is to know that you are a great and true man of God," she said. According to the news site Revista Oeste, she also posted a photo holding hands with the justice and ended the message with a command: "Be strong and courageous. Do not back down!"
From a "vision" to the court
Michelle said she had a vision before then president Jair Bolsonaro nominated Mendonça to the court in July 2021.
"On a very remarkable day, in our little consecration room, God revealed to me your entrance to that court. He opened my vision, and I saw you entering with a white cloud over your head."
A Presbyterian pastor who had served as solicitor general and justice minister, Mendonça was confirmed by the Senate on December 1, 2021, by 47 votes to 32. At the time, Bolsonaro had promised to nominate someone "terribly evangelical." Michelle watched the vote and celebrated the result alongside religious leaders.
The clash between Mendonça and Moraes
Mendonça is the reporting justice in the investigation of Banco Master, an investment bank. Last week he lifted the secrecy on Federal Police documents containing messages attributed to the bank's founder, Daniel Vorcaro, that point to contact with Moraes. Moraes hit back on Thursday (Sep 3), asking that his colleague be investigated for abuse of authority, administrative improbity and malfeasance in two police operations: Compliance Zero, which covers Banco Master, and Sem Desconto, which probes fraud at INSS, Brazil's social security system. According to Moraes, Mendonça steered investigations against Justices Gilmar Mendes, Dias Toffoli, Luiz Fux and Kassio Nunes Marques. Mendonça contests the accusations.
On Friday (Sep 4), Fachin removed the documents from the fake news inquiry and moved them to Petition 16.704, under the STF presidency. The decision did not endorse the accusations or automatically open an investigation. Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet has five business days to weigh in on Moraes's request. Mendonça then has the same period to respond.
The post lands in the middle of the campaign for October's general elections. According to Folha de S.Paulo, Michelle could become the first Brazilian former first lady elected to public office. The court's calendar runs in parallel: once the deadlines for Gonet and Mendonça lapse, it falls to Fachin to decide whether to open the investigation requested by Moraes.