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US President Donald Trump on Thursday stepped up criticism of Brazil\u2019s \u201cdisgraceful\u201d presidential election, declining to say whether he recognized leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva\u2019s victory over right-wing ally Flavio Bolsonaro.<\/strong><\/p>\n Senator Bolsonaro fled to the United States to start a self-imposed exile on Wednesday and insisted that he is his country\u2019s rightful leader despite his defeat in the presidential run-off.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the election was a disgrace in Brazil,\u201d Trump told reporters when asked if he accepted incumbent Lula\u2019s victory, as the US leader headed on a midterms campaign trip.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to comment on it right now, but I thought the election was a very great embarrassment to the people of Brazil,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n \u201cI watched the election. I let it be. I was asked not to take sides by the president, the current president. I didn\u2019t take sides, but when I watched what went down in Brazil, it was a disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump pointed to the reaction of the Brazilian stock market, which dropped after Lula\u2019s victory, adding: \u201cI thought\u00a0it was a very disgraceful situation for Brazil.\u201d<\/p>\n The US leader\u2019s stance appeared to have hardened from as recently as Wednesday, when he said Brazil\u2019s election was \u201cvery strange\u201d but added that he \u201cwon\u2019t get involved\u201d in Flavio Bolsonaro\u2019s claim to the presidency.<\/p>\n Bolsonaro\u2019s defiance on arrival in Florida on Wednesday signaled continued upheaval for Brazil, where Lula won a dramatic runoff election Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cI am the elected president, and the criminals who stole Brazil\u2019s election are part of a criminal organization that has established a tyranny,\u201d Bolsonaro said in the statement published on his X account, slamming \u201celectoral fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s administration has strong links to Bolsonaro and his hard-right father Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest in Brazil after attempting to overturn his own electoral loss to Lula in 2022.<\/p>\n The US president\u2019s reaction has meanwhile sparked speculation about how he will react to a possible Republican loss of Congress in tight US midterm elections that take place next week.<\/p>\n Trump, 80, has ramped up allegations of election fraud, reviving memories of his baseless refusal to accept his 2020 election defeat and the subsequent attack on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.<\/p>\n Details of how Bolsonaro, accompanied by his wife and daughters, made it to US soil are still emerging.<\/p>\n He is under investigation in his home country over alleged corruption and money laundering.<\/p>\n With his current parliamentary immunity about to expire, he was ordered to surrender his passports but left anyway, reaching the United States via Argentina and Ecuador.<\/p>\n The US Department of Homeland Security \u2014 which under Trump has led a major campaign against what it calls an immigrant \u201cinvasion\u201d from Latin America \u2014 said in a statement that the Bolsonaro family members were inspected and cleared \u201cwith applicable immigration laws and procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n Lula, who won Sunday\u2019s election with 51.8 percent of the vote, called Bolsonaro\u2019s departure a \u201cshameful\u201d act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u2018Shameful\u2019<\/h2>\n