TOUCHED A NERVE

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Tells Journalist He Would Like to ‘Smash Your Face in’

The attempt to shut down questioning over allegedly corrupt payments has backfired.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro told a journalist he’d like to “smash your face in” after being questioned over reports of a series of mystery payments into his wife’s bank account by a former police officer with alleged links to the Rio de Janeiro underworld. Reports in the Brazilian media have claimed that, between 2011 and 2017, at least 89,000 reais ($15,000) were paid into the account of Brazil’s first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro. The president, who swept to power in 2018 vowing to stamp out corruption, was filmed telling a reporter from one of Brazil’s top newspapers: “What I’d really like to do is smash your face in, yeah?” He then called the journalist a “dirtbag.” Within minutes of Bolsonaro’s remarks being reported, Brazilian journalists launched a coordinated online campaign, repeatedly tweeting the very same question at the president: “President Jair Bolsonaro, why did your wife Michelle receive 89,000 reais from Fabrício Queiroz?”