Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro Tried To Hack the 2022 Election, Says Hacker

Despite claiming that the elections were rigged against him, Brazil's then-President Jair Bolsonaro tried hacking into the voting system, according to a hacker who testified at a congressional hearing on Thursday.

The hacker, Walter Delgatti Neto, told Brazil's Congress that then-President Jair Bolsonaro asked him to hack into the country's electronic voting system to prove his claims that the voting system had weaknesses and backing up his claims that rigging the election is possible, thus casting doubt into the result.

Bolsonaro met with the hacker on August 10, 2022, at the presidential residence, and their meeting lasted between 90 minutes and two hours. There, Delgatti told the man regarded as the "Trump of the Tropics" that hacking into Brazil's voting system was not possible because it was not connected to the internet, according to the Associated Press.

Delgatti explained that Bolsonaro's idea was for him to build a fake code for voting machines and "expose the fragility" of Brazil's voting system. However, the hacker pointed out that he could not do this because the source code is physically located "in a vault room that doesn't have internet access."

Before his testimony, Delgatti had been detained by Brazilian police for breaking into the judiciary system. This reportedly happened earlier this month.

Jair Bolsonaro Denies Hacker's Allegations

Following the hacker's testimony, the former Brazilian president's attorneys released a statement and threatened that they will "take judicial action against Delgatti."

"NEVER, EVER, has there been a wiretap, or any illegal or non-republican activity, against any political entity in Brazil by the President's primary circle," said Bolsoinaro's defense lawyer, Fabio Wajngarten.

He also posted on social media and claimed that Delgatti was lying in his testimony, especially about meeting with the then-president for 90 minutes.

"I don't know anyone who had an individual meeting with the president that last an hour and a half. I doubt it. Lie and lie and lie," said the Bolsonaro lawyer, according to CNN.

The Bolsonaro legal team also accused the hacker of "bringing false information and allegations, without any evidence."

However, they acknowledged that Delgatti did meet with Bolsonaro, though they claimed this was because he ordered his defense minister to open investigations on the country's electoral system. The lawyers added that the investigation was "based on claims he had heard from the hacker."

Brazil Police Carry Out More Raids Regarding January 8 Probe

Much like his North American counterpart, Donald Trump, there are also multiple investigations regarding Jair Bolsonaro. Also like Trump, he may have also instigated a coup in early January, with the January 8 probe looking into the Pro-Bolsonaro coup that mirrored Trump's January 6 Capitol insurrection.

In a statement, Brazil's Federal Police revealed that they carried out several raids against supporters of Jair Bolsonaro. They served 10 arrest warrants and 16 search and seizure warrants across five states and the federal district, including Brasilia, according to Reuters.

The names of those who were targeted by those warrants were not revealed to the public, but the Brazil Federal Police did say that these individuals were being investigated for crimes of "violent abolition of the rule of law, coup d'état, qualified damage, criminal association, incitement, destruction and damage of specially protected property."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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