President Donald Trump‘s media company filed a lawsuit against a Brazilian Supreme Court justice hours after former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a major Trump ally, was indicted.
The Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social and Rumble, said Justice Alexandre de Moraes violated the free speech rights of conservative commentators on Rumble when he ordered their ban, according to a lawsuit filed in a U.S. federal court in Tampa, Florida. The plaintiffs argued that the accounts were lawful under U.S. law.
“The Gag Orders demand that Rumble, from its Florida-based headquarters and without any Brazil operations, enforce a universal ban on the targeted accounts—imposing a total blackout that extends even to U.S. users,” said the suit.
The lawsuit was notable for its timing, taking place just hours after Bolsonaro’s indictment in Brazil on a slew of criminal charges.
On Tuesday, Brazilian Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet charged Bolsonaro with attempting a coup to overthrow Brazil’s democratic order.
The indictment alleged that prosecutors obtained extensive evidence showing Bolsonaro approved a plot to assassinate his electoral rival, current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Moraes. Lula was to be poisoned, while Moraes was to be shot by special forces, according to the indictment. Though ultimately abandoned, the plotters went so far as to begin tracking Moraes’s movements, according to the New York Times.
Bolsonaro approached his indictment similar to Trump, denouncing it as “the weaponization of the justice system” and comparing himself to the U.S. president.
The accusations are “nothing more than a desperate attempt to criminalize my political movement, silence millions of Brazilians, and rig the next election before a single vote is cast,” he continued, pointing out that he handed over power to Lula peacefully. “This is the same failed strategy that was used against President Trump.”
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Moraes was also the judge that banned X in Brazil, prompting a high-profile feud with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The charges against Bolsonaro will now go to the Supreme Court, which will decide whether Bolsonaro will go to trial.
