US steps up efforts to help Bolsonaro avoid jail over alleged coup plot

State department condemns judge's decision to place former Brazil president under house arrest as trial proceeds

The United States has intensified its campaign to help Jair Bolsonaro avoid punishment for allegedly masterminding a failed coup, with the state department denouncing the decision to place Brazil's former president under house arrest.

Let Bolsonaro speak!" the department's bureau of western hemisphere affairs tweeted on Monday night after the far-right populist was confined to his mansion in the capital, Brasilia, and had his mobile phone seized by police.