Rubio says US did not help Bolsonaro flee Brazil

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says President Donald Trump's administration did not help Brazil's defeated presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro flee the country for the United States.

Bolsonaro arrived in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, after losing a run-off to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. A day earlier, the US Department of State had said Bolsonaro and his family would be granted US visas. His October 25 election loss bucked a trend of conservative electoral wins in Latin America.

Bolsonaro is under investigation in Brazil for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. Before leaving, he had been ordered to surrender his passport because police deemed him a flight risk.

'We didn't facilitate anything,' Rubio told reporters on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, where diplomats from the Group of 20 largest economies were gathered.

'We had word that he had arrived in the United States. He had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country,' Rubio said. He added that the US government was not 'involved directly in any of the moves that were made.'

Rubio also said he had seen Brazil's foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday, and expected to see Brazilian officials again in November in France during a foreign ministers' meeting.

Separately, Trump — who had previously called Brazil's election 'rigged' — voiced sympathy for Bolsonaro. 'I think he got treated very shabbily, very shabbily, so he can stay here as long as he wants,' the president told reporters at his Florida residence on Saturday.

The Reuters news agency reported that Bolsonaro was admitted to the US under humanitarian parole, a status that typically lasts for one year.

Trump's comments suggested relations between the Western Hemisphere's two largest democracies may remain strained for some time.

After his run-off loss, Bolsonaro fled Brazil to the US via Argentina and Ecuador, on a journey that some US media outlets reported was partly arranged with the help of Jason Miller, a White House official.

Bolsonaro has refused to concede the election and called the results fraudulent without providing evidence. Since arriving in the US, he has claimed to be the true 'leader' of Brazil and said he left the country because he was a victim of 'persecution.'