Trump adviser Jason Miller made news on Tuesday when Brazilian authorities allegedly questioned him for hours after he attended CPAC Brasil 2021, held in Brasilia.
Miller, however, wasn’t the only denizen of Trumpworld to attend the conference. Rather, the decision by an as-of-yet unnamed Brazilian authority to question him highlights a series of bizarre links between Brazil’s leader Jair Bolsonaro and the American right.
First off, why is there a CPAC Brasil?
CPAC did not return TPM’s request for comment. CPAC chair Matt Schlapp issued a tweet after the Miller debacle, however, referring to his presence there as part of CPAC’s “delegation” to the conference.
I just talked w our @CPAC delegation chair in Brazil and so far no additional detentions but many are boarding soon. https://t.co/8apRdjUNHf
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) September 7, 2021
CPAC appears to have sent more than a “delegation.” The American organization’s website describes the Brazilian gathering as another “CPAC conference,” this time held overseas, and says that it originated from a friendship between Schlapp and Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo.
CPAC Brasil ran Sept. 3-4, with Miller, who also works as CEO of right-wing social network GETTR, delivering a closing speech on Sept. 4. It’s the second time CPAC has supported a conference in Brazil, with the first taking place in 2019.
In addition to Miller, the gathering featured Eduardo Bolsonaro, a member of the Brazilian parliament who spent much of the Trump administration building inroads with the American right.
Eduardo Bolsonaro cultivated a friendship with former Trump campaign chairman Steve Bannon, agreeing in February 2019 to work for The Movement, a group that Bannon founded during the Trump presidency in a bid to take his far-right ideology global.
It was a pleasure to meet STEVE BANNON,strategist in Donald Trump's presidential campaign.We had a great conversation and we share the same worldview.He said be an enthusiast of Bolsonaro's campaign and we are certainly in touch to join forces,especially against cultural marxism. pic.twitter.com/ceHoui6FH5
— Eduardo Bolsonaro?? (@BolsonaroSP) August 4, 2018
It’s not clear exactly when and how the Brazilian president’s son befriended Schlapp, but Eduardo Bolsonaro appeared at CPAC in 2020, and has featured in Schlapp’s own promoting of the events.
In 2019 ACU hosted several international CPAC events, one of which was #CPACbrazil, thanks to @BolsonaroSP. At #CPAC2020 he'll share how our conservative movement inspires freedom-loving people across the globe & how the US & Brazil can work together to stop socialism. pic.twitter.com/sXEEz4rLFx
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) January 31, 2020
CPAC Brasilia 2021 itself featured not only Miller, but also other MAGA glitterati like GOP gubernatorial candidate and macabre driver Charlie Gerow, Rep. Mark Green, and Donald Trump Jr.
Trump Jr. gave a full, 40-minute address to the Brazilian conference, video reviewed by TPM shows. It’s not clear what the circumstances surrounding Trump Jr.’s appearance were or whether he was compensated for his appearance.
It’s not clear why the “delegation” attempted to depart Brazil on Tuesday, when the conference itself seems to have concluded on Sept. 4.
But photos posted to Facebook by Matthew Tyrmand, another member of the CPAC “delegation” and a board member of James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas, give a possible clue.
Tyrmand initially wrote on Twitter about the questioning of Miller, before adding later that the group’s plane appeared to be “taxiing back to the USA.”
BREAKING: being detained at airport in Brasilia. Sitting on tarmac as @GETTRofficial CEO & top Trump advisor @JasonMillerinDC is being interrogated by Supreme Court anti-Bolsonaristas on day of massive pro @jairbolsonaro rally after we met w/Bolsonaros. pic.twitter.com/RHkSxAajgI
— Matthew Tyrmand (@MatthewTyrmand) September 7, 2021
In a Facebook post published on Sunday, Tyrmand said that he, Miller, and others had met with President Bolsonaro while in the country’s capitol.
“I’ve been fortunate to meet many heads of state but JB is like no other (closest parallel of course is DJT and the correlations are numerous),” Tyrmand wrote. “JB is totally humble and down to earth…he puts on no airs and lives to continue the culture and political war battles against the global left looking to subvert the wills and mandates of free peoples who are conservative at heart.”
Among other things, which include Bolsonaro holding Project Veritas merchandise, Tyrmand included photographs of an airplane with Tyrmand, Miller, and another unidentified person standing in front of it on the tarmac.
As of this writing, Flightradar 24 was tracking a plane that appeared to match the one in Tyrmand’s photos as having departed Brasilia on Tuesday, with West Palm Beach airport as its destination.
