Temer faces corruption charges as lower house votes
The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies will vote today on whether or not to send President Michel Temer to stand trial before the Supreme Court for obstruction of justice.
The first serving Brazilian President to face criminal charges, Temer came to power after his leftist predecessor Dilma Rousseff was impeached last year.
Temer survived a similar vote 263-227 in August on charges that he took bribes from Joesley Batista, the former chairman of the massive meatpacking firm JBS. But the emergence of a new recording form Batista that appeared to show Temer bribing a witness led Attorney General Rodrigo Janot to file a second round of charges last month.
The Brazilian scandals have brought Temer’s approval ratings down to the single digits while delaying his free-market agenda intended to pull Brazil out of sluggish economic growth.
Given that Temer’s allies only need to win one-third of the Chambers 513 votes to block a trial, he is likely to carry the day. If he does, expect Temer to push more aggressively to push for privatizing public industries and slashing spending.
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