Moro destroys Bolsonaro.

By Helena Chagas, for The Divergent and for the Journalists for Democracy

A .22 caliber revolver was expected, but former minister Sérgio Moro left the government firing a bazooka at President Jair Bolsonaro. Moro didn't just give a speech as a future presidential candidate for 2022; he demolished Bolsonaro with a series of accusations, revealing that the president did indeed dismiss the director general of the Federal Police due to political interference – and that he himself had admitted this in conversations. He gave further details of these reasons, stating that previous replacements in the superintendencies of Rio and Pernambuco served the same purpose. And he revealed that Bolsonaro is very concerned about investigations opened in the Supreme Federal Court.

In stating that the important thing is not who replaces Maurício Valeixo, but rather why they are being replaced, he also recounted that Bolsonaro expressed an intention to access information about investigations and classified intelligence reports from the Federal Police – which is clearly an impeachable offense. Another serious revelation was that he did not sign Valeixo's dismissal, published today in the Official Gazette with his name – and that it was not at his request either. In other words, the Minister of Justice accuses the Presidential Palace of falsifying official documents.

The political world is still reeling from this morning's bombshell, but among seasoned parliamentarians, it's already being said that Moro, one way or another, has brought down the Bolsonaro government. Either through a possible impeachment process, which is now taking on real dimensions due to the series of alleged crimes of responsibility, or through total isolation that could later lead to this as his already declining popularity erodes.

Right now, PT politicians are celebrating the fact that Moro said that during Dilma's government, in 2014, the Federal Police had autonomy to conduct the Lava Jato investigations – which, in the end, led to the president's impeachment.

And Moro? He might think he'll emerge from all this as a hero, ready to run for office in 2022. He even made a point of saying he remains available to serve the country. But it's not that simple. As a neo-politician, he'll realize that whoever wields a bazooka to fire a shot of that magnitude always pays the price. He's now in the crosshairs of Bolsonaro and his supporters.

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