President Donald Trump published a message on Monday in defense of longtime ally Jair Bolsonaro, who served as president of Brazil during Trump’s first term, accusing the Brazilian judiciary of doing a “terrible thing” by launching multiple criminal investigations against him and banning him from running for office.

Bolsonaro governed Brazil from 2018 to 2023, losing narrowly in the 2022 election to formerly imprisoned radical socialist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula, 79, is currently serving his third term as president, marked by a dramatic increase in politically motivated trials against Bolsonaro, his family, and his supporters. Aiding Lula’s legal campaigns against conservatives is the Brazilian top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), which has launched multiple violent raids and investigations against conservatives on allegation of spreading “fake news.” STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes, one of the court’s most prominent judges, began persecuting conservatives under the guise of fighting “fake news” during the Bolsonaro presidency and has since expanded his actions to target the former president himself.

Jair Bolsonaro initially faced three main criminal allegations: falsifying a coronavirus vaccine card to enter the United States in 2022; inappropriately keeping expensive jewelry gifted to Brazil by Saudi Arabia; and leading an attempted “coup” to oust the current leftist government including a plot to poison Lula. Bolsonaro, 70, is facing up to 39 years in prison on the “coup” charges alone.

Prosecutors moved in March to drop the vaccine card charges, but the other cases remain in vigor, and Bolsonaro is currently banned from running for any public office despite polls showing him in the lead for the 2026 presidential election.

Trump mentioned Bolsonaro’s positive polling and celebrated his presidency in his statement on Monday, published on his website, Truth Social.

“Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro,” Trump wrote. “I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year!”

“He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE,” the president emphasized.

His Election was very close and now, he is leading in the Polls,” the statement continued. “This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the ‘HOTTEST’ in the World!”

Trump predicted that the Brazilian people “will not stand” for the judicial attacks on Bolsonaro and vowed to closely monitor the “WITCH HUNT” against the former president.

“The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil — It’s called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!” he concluded.

Bolsonaro, writing on social media, expressed gratitude to President Trump and described himself as feeling “great joy” at his message.

“I overlapped with President Trump for two years in which we always defended the interests of our people and freedom for all,” Bolsonaro wrote. “This process to which I am being subjected is a judicial aberration (Lawfare), clear political persecution, already perceived by all with good sense.”

Bolsonaro acknowledged that Trump, “the illustrious president and friend… went through something similar” and was “implacably persecuted, but triumphed for the good of the United States and dozens of other truly democratic countries.”

“Thank you for existing and giving us an example of faith and resilience,” Bolsonaro concluded, addressing Trump.

Trump’s comment appeared to rankle Lula, who condemned “interference” in a rant on Monday without mentioning Trump or America by name.

“The defense of democracy in Brazil is a matter that concerns Brazilians,” Lula told reporters following Trump’s statement. “We are a sovereign country. We do not accept interference or lecturing from anyone. We possess solid and independent institutions.”

“Nobody is above the law — above all, those who threaten liberty or the state of rights,” Lula insisted.

Lula himself is president despite being banned from running for office after being found guilty through multiple appeals of corruption during his previous two terms as president. Lula was sentenced to over 25 years in prison in 2019 as part of a criminal investigation known as “Operation Car Wash,” which took down dozens of politicians found accepting bribes from corrupt contractors seeking overpriced contracts for government public works projects. Lula was found guilty of using some of the illicit money to buy a luxury beachfront property.

The STF, which is currently processing multiple cases against Bolsonaro, freed Lula in 2021 and allowed him to run for office again despite Brazilian law forbidding convicted criminals from holding public office. The STF argued that the original district court processing the Lula case, in the state of Curitiba, did not have jurisdiction over such a large case, but did not present any evidence exonerating Lula of the crimes for which he was repeatedly convicted.

While Lula did not mention Trump by name, one of his top cabinet officials, Institutional Relations Minister Gleisi Hoffmann, pointedly condemned the American president.

“Donald Trump is very mistaken if he thinks he can interfere in the Brazilian judicial process,” Hoffman railed. “The time when Brazil was subservient to the USA was the time of Bolsonaro, who saluted his flag and did not defend national interests.”

“One can’t talk about persecution when a sovereign country fulfills appropriate legal processes of the democratic state of laws, which Bolsonaro and his coup-plotters tried to destroy,” Hoffman accused. “The president of the USA should take care of his own problems, which are not few, and respect the sovereignty of Brazil and our judiciary.”

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.