The two-year probe has led to the jailing of dozens of top businessmen and politicians from across the political spectrum, and threatens numerous same lawmakers who voted to remove Rousseff. But the Brazilian senate actually held a second vote on that issue, and – 42 in favor, 36 against – failed to reach the necessary votes to pass the ban.
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Temer, who has been interim president since Congress opened impeachment proceedings in mid-May, has vowed to impose austerity measures to plug a growing fiscal deficit that cost Brazil its investment-grade credit rating previous year.
Senators who support President Dilma Rousseff are submitting a request to separate the upcoming decision on whether to remove her from office and to ban her from further posts into two different votes.
Her running mate and vice president, Michel Temer, joined the cause of the opposition senators during their campaign to get an impeachment trial underway, and was made interim president.
Head of the Federal Supreme Court Ricardo Lewandowski (R) talks with Senator Aecio Neves during the final impeachment session of Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia Aug. 30, 2016. He said the trial would adjourn after all senators finished speaking, then resume Wednesday morning.
Police fire tear gas against supporters of Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff during a rally in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016.
“This is a farce”, he said in a speech, “We should ask her forgiveness if she is convicted”, he added.
Her impeachment “will mark the beginning of a new era” for Brazil, said Mr Reale Junior. “The fraud was spoken and the fraud was documented”. For hours she sat on the podium as her enemies and former allies grilled her over the charges in an effort to seek a conclusive admission of guilt. Ms Rousseff’s lawyer Jose Eduardo Cardozo retorted that Ms Rousseff was being made to pay for supporting corruption investigations against her rivals.
Some exchanges were heated, but most were civil and traversed themes that the country has been wrestling with since an impeachment measure was introduced in the lower House of Deputies late past year, polarizing the nation.
Dilma Rousseff’s much expected speech to the lawmakers who will decide this week whether to remove her permanently her from office for disobedience she has shown throughout an impeachment process that has divided Latin America’s most populous nation. Local media report at least 52 senators have said they will vote for her ouster, while roughly 18 are opposed and 11 have not said. The vote came after senators found Rousseff guilty of breaking budget laws in an impeachment trial.
Workers Party Senator Angela Portela said it was a sad day for Brazil’s democratic system because an elected president was being unjustly impeached.
Several senators accused her of misleading voters in the 2014 election about the true state of public finances and the economic slowdown.
FORMER PRESIDENT LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA: Silva, who was Rousseff’s mentor and predecessor, used similar accounting practices in September and November 2003 and in November 2006, shortly after his re-election. “And you have been systematically making accusations against me”, she said when she defended herself in the Senate on Monday.
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She’s speaking at her own impeachment trial, saying: “I know I will be judged, but my conscience is clear”.
