Government sees impeachment move as a personal attack on Rousseff

The government's first perception of the decision to accept the request to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff announced by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, was that it was a personal attack on the president. In response to the announcement, Rousseff decided to give a televised address saying she has no offshore accounts and has not tried to hide personal assets from public knowledge. It was a reference to alleged secret accounts in Switzerland whose ownership investigators at Operation Car Wash have traced to Cunha.

The president learned from Chief of Staff Jaques Wagner that the impeachment request had been accepted before the official announcement was made by Cunha. As she received the news, she reportedly said, according to presidential aides, that this is a relief from the threats she has faced since the ouster petitions filed with the Chamber of Deputies became a sort of “trump card” for Cunha to “blackmail” the president.

In a show of force, eleven ministers appeared on Rousseff's side during her address, which she described as a “word of clarification to all Brazilian women and men.” She even used the word “calm” to say she is confident that the impeachment case is groundless and she is confident that it will eventually be “fairly dismissed”.

In a categorical rebuttal of speculations that the government had been bargaining with the lower house speaker, who announced in July that he was withdrawing support for the government, Rousseff said she “would never accept or agree to” any kind of bargain, referring to alleged governing coalition deputies' support for Cunha by not voting to remove the lower house speaker from office in the ethical case against him.

President Rousseff gave her rebuttal address about three hours after the press conference in which Cunha announced his decision to begin the impeachment proceedings.

After the address, journalists asked no questions to the president, since the Press Secretariat had warned it would not be a press conference. Rousseff spent a further hour at her office before leaving for her official residence at Alvorada Palace. Meanwhile, drivers passing by honked outside the building in their cars and vuvuzelas were heard coming from the lawn in front of the Congress buildings.

Translated by Mayra Borges