Article author:
Reuters
Brazil — Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday that the arrest of former Minister of Education Milton Ribeiro was an attempt to undermine the government and vowed to support him.
The president said the former minister, who was being investigated on suspicion of corruption related to the education fund, should not have been arrested, calling the investigation "flirty."
"I still believe in Milton. If something happens, he will answer his actions," the president said in a weekly live speech, and the arrest "wastes the government." He added that it was an attempt.
Evangelical minister Ribeiro was released on Thursday, the day after he was arrested by federal police.
He resigned in March after allegations of incentives for two ministers in return for bribes surfaced.
There was also a question about the payments made between Ribeiro's wife and the daughter of another minister, who may be involved in the sale of the car.
Bolsonaro downplayed his claim, saying he would put his face "in the fire" for Ribeiro, and later stated that he would only touch it.
The evangelicals are one of Bolsonaro's most loyal supporters of the base. (Report by Maria Carolina Marcello, Written by Carolina Pulice, Edited by Isabel Woodford and Stephen Coates)
