Judges from the Supreme Court and the Electoral Court informally requested reports with data on publications that threatened magistrates
The Minister of STF (Federal Supreme Court) Alexandre de Moraes requested the anti-disinformation sector of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) the production of reports with information from protesters who insulted ministers of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) during the Lide Brazil Conference, in New York (USA), in November 2022.
According to S. Sheet. Paulo, the informal requests were made, at the behest of Moraes – who presided over the Electoral Court at the time – by the auxiliary judge of the TSE presidency office, Marco Antônio Vargas, and by the Supreme Court’s investigating judge Airton Vieira to the then head of the AEED (Special Advisory Office for Combating Disinformation), Eduardo Tagliaferro.
A report indicated that anonymous messages contained “threatening content to the person of the Honorable Minister Alexandre de Moraes”.
The TSE has no investigative or criminal powers. This is the responsibility of the STF Security Secretariat, which receives threats and passes them on to the federal or state police. The minister’s office can also call the police directly for investigations in cases of suspected crime.
Read below the requests made by Marco Antônio Vargas and Airton Vieira to Eduardo Tagliaferro, according to messages obtained and released by the newspaper:
- November 11, 2022 – the judge asked Tagliaferro to monitor publications calling for demonstrations at the site and threats against Moraes. Vargas said he would send the report “before him [Moraes] “to embark”. The first version of the document was sent around 9pm. It stated that anonymous messages had “threatening content” to the minister and that his personal security should be communicated;
- November 12, 2022 – Airton Vieira sent new publications to Tagliaferro and asked him to try to identify those responsible for publicizing the hotel where the ministers would be staying. A report with the results of the searches was sent to the Supreme Court, but the head of the TSE agency said he did not obtain much information;
- November 13, 2022 – Vieira again sent a print of a post on X (formerly Twitter) with Barroso’s photo and the address of the Sofitel Hotel. Tagliaferro questioned the investigating judge, saying that the content was not related to the TSE and, therefore, could not be used to substantiate the production of the report. Vieira responded that Moraes had signed a decision by the STF to overturn the publications, but since they had not been complied with, “I thought about doing it through the TSE, given the agility”;
- November 14, 2022 – Vieira asked Tagliaferro for a report “very simple” and office, “as usual” from a post by the former Secretary of Social Development of the State of São Paulo Philip Sabara (Republicans-SP). Later, he also requested a report and official letter “quickly” to block the account of businessman Alessandro Lucio Boneares, who was doing a live broadcast in New York. Tagliaferro sent Boneares’ data. Another request was made based on two posts by the gospel singer David Priest. He retweeted posts that allegedly encouraged protesters against the ministers. Tagliaferro warned Vieira about the singer’s fame and influence. Vieira said that the request had come from Moraes. Later, the advisor at the TSE sent a series of publications with content about protesters during the event. Vieira said that Moraes had specified that he wanted reports only with publications by the blogger, journalist and digital influencer. Allan dos Santos and the federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP).
This information is part of a series of reports published by the newspaper S. Paulo Newspaper. The investigation was carried out by journalist Glenn Greenwald, the same person who helped reveal what became known as Vaza Jato – a set of messages exchanged between members of the now-concluded Lava Jato operation.
UNDERSTAND
On November 14 and 15, 2022, the Lide Brazil Conference brought together ministers from the STF, TSE, TCU (Federal Court of Auditors), as well as monetary authorities, representatives of professional associations, public and private managers and more than 260 businesspeople. The event was also attended by former President of the Republic Michel Temer (2016-2019).
Days before the event, posts circulated on social media calling for demonstrations at the site. In some app messages gathered in the report, there are reports of threats against Moraes and the call for a caravan to New York from other North American cities.
The authors of the messages disclosed the address of the event (which was public knowledge) and the hotel where the invited ministers would be staying.
The day before the start of the Lide Brazil Conference, Brazilians protested against the ministers in front of the Sofitel Hotel. There are videos showing ministers Gilmar Mendes and Ricardo Lewandowski (currently Lula’s Minister of Justice) being insulted.
Moraes was also the target of insults in a restaurant and later, when leaving the establishment. Later that day, Barroso was approached while walking in Times Square, a tourist area in New York, and also responded to a question from a protester about the source code of the electronic voting machines: “You lost, man, don’t bother me”.
MORAES X TSE CASE
On Thursday (August 15, 2024), the newspaper also showed that Moraes’ office at the STF requested, via messages and unofficially, the production of reports by the TSE to support the minister’s decisions in the fake news investigation at the Supreme Court.
Moraes stated when commenting for the first time on the messages that show that he would have used the TSE unofficially to support investigations of his rapporteur in the Supreme Court about allies of the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), which would be “schizophrenic” if “self-officiate”.
The minister also stated that no report “worries” and everything mentioned in the journalistic text is documented in the court records.
REMOVAL OF Tagliaferro
The former head of AEED was dismissed from his post on May 9, 2023 after being arrested on charges of domestic violence on the night of May 8, in Caieiras, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, after threatening his wife.
At the time, his cell phone was seized by the Civil Police of SP and sealed, according to the BO (Police Report) obtained by Sheet. The document was drawn up at the Franco da Rocha Sectional Police Station. The device, an iPhone 14 with chips for two lines, was taken to the unit by Tagliaferro’s brother-in-law, Celso Luiz de Oliveira, and returned on May 15.
“The declarant states that the device in question is for Eduardo’s personal use, as well as for professional use, and has two chips. The device in question was properly turned off at this police station in order to preserve its contents, and the declarant does not have the access password.” At the end, there is a statement saying ‘Device seized under seal’”says the document, according to the newspaper report.
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