Election 'correction' plan found at former minister home: Brazil
The text specifies the formation of an election "regulatory committee" made up of eight defense ministry officials and nine other people who will take over the TSE's electoral oversight tasks.
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Brazil's former Justice Minister Anderson Torres (Agência Brasil)
A document discovered at the house of Brazil's former Justice Minister advocated emergency procedures for the "repair" of the October elections in which then-President, Jair Bolsonaro, was defeated.
Investigators discovered the document at the residence of former minister Anderson Torres, who is wanted by the Supreme Court for alleged "collusion" with pro-Bolsonaro rioters who trashed Brasilia over the weekend.
Torres served as security commander for the capital Brasilia under the new government of Bolsonaro's adversary, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
He has since been sacked.
The document, which was published late Thursday in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, envisions a "state of defense" for the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
The aim, it claimed, was "the preservation and immediate restoration of the transparency and correction of the 2022 presidential electoral process."
The text also specified the formation of an election "regulatory committee" made up of eight defense ministry officials and nine other people who will take over the TSE's electoral oversight tasks.
It is worth noting that the undated and unsigned draft bears Bolsonaro's name at the bottom.
Torres, who has been in the US since before the riots, tweeted that the document was "likely" part of a pile of other papers at his house that was due to be destroyed.
He went on to say that the contents of the draft had been taken "out of context" to "feed false narratives" against him.
This is happening as thousands of so-called "bolsonaristas" stormed the presidency, Supreme Court, and Congress in the capital on Sunday, breaking windows and furniture, destroying priceless works of art, and leaving graffiti messages calling for a military coup.
Both Torres and Bolsonaro denied any involvement.
For years, Bolsonaro has exerted strained efforts to throw doubt on the credibility of Brazil's internationally acclaimed election system, implying that he would not accept loss in the October 30 runoff against Lula.
He never openly acknowledged Lula's victory and left the country for the United States two days before his successor's inauguration.
Torres is expected back in the country shortly to face the charges against him.
