RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's attorney general formally accused President Michel Temer of corruption on Monday, making him the first sitting president in Latin America's largest nation to face criminal charges.
Attorney General Rodrigo Janot's accusation is the latest salvo in an intensifying showdown between Temer and justice officials who are building a corruption case that reaches to the highest levels.
The case now goes to the lower Chamber of Deputies in Congress, which must decide whether it has merit. If two-thirds of the legislators decide that it does, then the president will be suspended for up to 180 days while a trial is conducted. House Speaker Rodrigo Maia, an ally of Temer, would be president in the interim.
In his decision, Janot said Temer at some point between March and April of this year took a bribe of around $150,000 offered by Joesly Batista, former chairman of meatpacking giant JBS.
Janot opened an investigation last month into Temer over corruption, obstruction of justice and being part of a criminal organization. A recording emerged that apparently captured Temer, in a conversation with Batista, endorsing hush money to former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, a former Temer ally who is serving a 15-year sentence for corruption. Batista reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
Temer has denied wrongdoing and said he will not resign.
Earlier Monday, Temer sought to show that his government was conducting business as usual, saying he wasn't going anywhere in his first comments since returning from a trip to Russia and Norway last week that was filled with mounting bad news.
Few people showed up at the reception at Brazil's embassy in Moscow, no top Norwegian officials welcomed Temer at Oslo's airport, and the country's prime minister, Erna Solberg, gave Temer a public lecture about the investigation that has upended Brazilian politics.
Launched in March 2014, the investigation into billions of dollars in inflated construction contracts and kickbacks to politicians has landed dozens of the country's elite in prison and threatens many more.
A Section on 06/27/2017