The national president of the Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, expelled Federal Deputy Antonio Carlos Rodrigues (SP) from the party on Thursday (31) after Mr. Rodrigues defended Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and attacked U.S. President Donald Trump. Mr. Rodrigues was one of the party’s main leaders in the state of São Paulo and a member of the party’s “grassroots” wing. He has also criticized his party colleague, Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is on leave from Congress.
On Wednesday (30), Mr. Rodrigues criticized the U.S. government’s decision to impose sanctions against Mr. Moraes under the Magnitsky Act. In an interview with the Metrópoles website on Wednesday (30), the congressman said that the sanctions against Mr. Moraes are “absolutely absurd” and that Mr. Trump needs to “take care of his own country” and not “interfere” with Brazil.
In a statement justifying the expulsion, Mr. Costa Neto defended Mr. Trump and said that criticism of the U.S. President is “absolutely ignorant.” Mr. Costa Neto also said that the party’s members in Congress put strong pressure on him to expel Mr. Rodrigues.
“The pressure from our party members was immense. Our party’s members in Congress understand that attacking U.S. President Donald Trump is incredibly ignorant. Trump is the president of the strongest country in the world. What we need is diplomacy and dialogue, not cheap populism, which only hinders our nation’s development. Enough of stirring up trouble. We have to fix Brazil,” said Mr. Costa Neto.
Mr. Rodrigues said he was surprised by press reports about the expulsion and, as of Thursday night, he had not been notified by the party. He also said that the Liberal Party was “the only party” of which he had ever been a member and that he had always acted with loyalty, respect, and consistency. “The positions I expressed recently were the result of the legitimate exercise of the mandate entrusted to me by the people. I await, calmly and responsibly, an official statement from the party,” he declared in a statement.
A former Minister of Transport in the Dilma Rousseff administration, Mr. Rodrigues has also criticized Mr. Bolsonaro’s calling, in the United States, for sanctions against the Brazilian government in retaliation for the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is a defendant in the Supreme Court for crimes including attempted coup d’état.
In April, in another sign of disagreement with some of his party colleagues, Mr. Rodrigues also refused to sign a request for urgency to expedite the voting of a bill on amnesty for those convicted for the January 8th attacks in Brasília. Pardoning the convicted rioters is one of the main demands of Mr. Bolsonaro and his closest allies.
In refusing to sign the request for urgency, Mr. Rodrigues said he would not be guided by “pressure” or “extemporaneous appeals” and considered the request misguided and with technical problems. “Parliament cannot assume the role of judge under penalty of suppressing the actions of the Judiciary,” he stated. “The country’s pacification will not come by decree,” he added at the time.
The congressman has a law degree and is a former public attorney. During his speech, he indirectly challenged his party colleagues. “I’ve been in the Liberal Party for over 25 years. Every political position I’ve held in my political life has been for my party. Those who have arrived now won’t dictate rules for me. They won’t. I’m an original party member. The party I built and helped found.”
Mr. Rodrigues has always been a key leader of the Liberal Party in São Paulo and has had a strong influence over transportation policy in both the state and the state capital governments. He was president of the São Paulo City Council and has good connections with other parties. Mr. Rodrigues was elected as an alternate to then-Senator Marta Suplicy (Workers’ Party) in 2010 and took office from 2012 to 2014 when Ms. Suplicy took a leave of absence.
