President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva publicly supported the director-general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, stating that he has his "total trust" and is a "companion". The statement was made during an interview on the SBT Brasil channel, conducted by journalists Basília Rodrigues and Marina Demori. Lula also defended that, if Rodrigues made any mistake, he should be judged in the same way he himself would be judged.
The manifestation occurs days after a crisis in the Supreme Federal Court involving the chief of the Federal Police. The president of the STF, Edson Fachin, suspended decisions by Ministers André Mendonça and Flávio Dino, who had, respectively, removed and reinstated Andrei Rodrigues to the position. Mendonça was the one who removed the delegate, while Dino reversed the decision.
The context of the dispute is the accusation made by André Mendonça against Andrei Rodrigues, who allegedly participated in the elaboration of reports that monitored the actions of the minister himself, Fachin. This was the first time Lula publicly addressed the police chief since the allegations emerged.
In the interview, Lula classified Andrei Rodrigues as "an expert like few delegates in the history of this country", reinforcing his confidence in the director-general amid the controversy over the alleged monitoring of STF ministers.
