The 45-year-old senator left Brazil secretly on October 27 and arrived in Florida aboard a private jet after traveling through Argentina and Ecuador. During an Instagram livestream, he said the persecution “began even sooner than I imagined,” explaining that police informed him of the passport revocation while he was visiting his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest.

Flavio Bolsonaro said his father warned him before the revocation. “With tears in his eyes, he told me, ‘You know where they’re going with this, don’t you?’” he said. “I told him, ‘Dad, I know … Now I know what I have to do.’” The passport cancellation came as part of a money-laundering investigation against him.

He did not provide details on how he left Brazil but said he and his wife made the decision “without anyone knowing” and urged people not to “point the finger at anyone.” U.S. President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei are under pressure to explain the involvement of their countries in his escape.

Bolsonaro claimed there were irregularities in the October 25 election runoff, comparing them to “handball goals” not disallowed by video assistant referee. He also predicted the economy would “go bust” under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and said he is willing to run for president again. “I’m not talking about 2030, I’m talking about before then,” he said.

A U.S. official said the Trump administration does not plan to back Bolsonaro’s claim to be Brazil’s rightful leader. Trump had previously said the election looked “rigged” but has not endorsed any candidate. He also said he gets along well with Lula, who won re-election by 3.5 percentage points.

The Bolsonaro departure is part of a turbulent period in Brazilian politics and U.S.-Brazil relations. Jair Bolsonaro was president from 2019 to 2023, lost re-election to Lula, and was jailed last year for his self-coup attempt. The U.S. previously sanctioned the judge overseeing his trial but lifted the sanctions after Trump and Lula had a cordial interaction at the UN General Assembly.

During the campaign, Brazil objected to what it called attempts by some U.S. officials to boost the Bolsonaro campaign. The government has refused to seat the incoming U.S. ambassador to Brazil, a close ally of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in part due to those objections.