Brazil's top electoral court wrapped up initial proceedings in a highly anticipated case that could see Michel Temer stripped of the presidency, but gave no clear indication of how it may rule. There are seven judges on the TSE, and a ruling requires the support of a majority.
Brazil's President Michel Temer reacts during a ceremony in commemoration of the World Environment Day, at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil June 5, 2017. Temer signed a decree making the Paris Agreement on Climate Change part of Brazilian legislation, however, Brazil is considering measures that would roll back environmental protections that would make it hard to meet its Paris climate accord targets.
Temer and Rousseff have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing involving campaign finance donations. Ironically, the party has been a key ally of Temer since he took over the presidency after Rousseff was suspended and then impeached a year ago.
Amid growing pressure for the president to resign amid a number of different corruption allegations, Hermann said this trial will be "based on facts, not on political convenience".
If the Rousseff-Temer ticket is annulled, the Brazilian Constitution states that, after half of the presidential term, if the positions of president and vice-president become vacant, congress must choose the new representative.
How soon could Temer lose the presidency?
The suit was brought after the 2014 election by the right-leaning Brazilian Social Democracy Party, whose presidential candidate, Aecio Neves, lost to the ticket of then President Dilma Rousseff and Temer as her vice presidential running mate. If irregularities are found to be true, President Michel Temer could be ousted from the Presidency.
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However, Justice Edson Fachin, who approved the written interrogation, said Temer was not obliged to answer them all.
The trial began only hours after Temer's ally and former cabinet Minister Henrique Eduardo Alves was detained on suspicion of graft in connection with the 2014 World Cup.
Late on Monday, police sent Temer a list of 84 questions related to the allegations. He has 24 hours to reply to the questions delivered Monday afternoon.
The Supreme Court has ordered an investigation against Temer and Rocha Loures for corruption, criminal organization and obstruction of justice, triggering the worst political crisis.
Temer has been hanging by a thread since the revelation of a secret audio clip in which he is allegedly heard giving his blessing to payment of hush money by a meatpacking tycoon to a top politician jailed for corruption. The president is being investigated after allegations surfaced that he sanctioned bribes to disgraced former parliamentary speaker Eduardo Cunha-who was given a 15-year prison sentence in March for accepting some $40 million in kickbacks. Police released video that apparently showed Loures carrying a suitcase filled with $154,000.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) is examining whether the 2014 reelection of president Dilma Rousseff and her then-vice president Temer should be invalidated because of corrupt campaign funding.
The scandals that have hit Brazil's politics at all levels had reduced the TSE almost to sideshow status, and observers expected that the court would expeditiously assign blame exclusively to Rousseff, who, like Temer, has much to lose.
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