Skip to main content

Daily Briefing: An echo of Jan. 6 in Brazil

Nicole Fallert   | Paste BN

Claims from former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of a rigged election precipitated Sunday's violent scene, with thousands of demonstrators in the nation's capital busting through security barricades, scaling walls, destroying property and invading Congress, their high court and the presidential palace. Also in the news: Kevin McCarthy's next move and a storm in California.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. You won't believe what TSA found this time in a traveler's luggage.

Now, here we go with Monday's news.

Brazilian protesters storm their Congress, high court and presidential palace

In a scene reminiscent of the violent Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, in the U.S., supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stormed their Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace Sunday in the capital city of Brasilia. The uprising of Bolsonaro supporters who refused to accept his defeat came a week after his leftist rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was inaugurated. Read more

  • Bolsonaro, like former President Donald Trump, spent the months since his defeat making claims that election officials and hackers rigged the election.
  • Some demonstrators called for a military coup to restore the far-right Bolsonaro to power. Videos on social media showed protesters attacking police officers with sticks and poles, and, upon breaking into the buildings, they built barricades to keep police out.
  • It took about three hours for security forces to regain control. The government described the protesters' actions Sunday as terrorism and coup-mongering and tallied 300 arrests.

📷 Photo of the day: The uprising in Brazil 📷

The protesters donned green and yellow colors and carried matching flags – symbols of the Bolsonaro presidency, much like the MAGA hats and Trump 2020 banners of the rioters at the U.S. Capitol two years ago. Click here to see more photos of the protests.

Kevin McCarthy's next battle

Kevin McCarthy, who became House speaker after a bruising four-day battle last week, is likely to face further GOP infighting when lawmakers return to the Capitol on Monday. To secure the votes of GOP hard-liners, McCarthy agreed to a set of rules that might not be an easy sell for some Republican lawmakers, especially moderates from districts that President Joe Biden won. Some of the compromises could weaken McCarthy's own power, including one that would allow a single lawmaker to initiate a vote to remove him as speaker. Read more

More news to know now

🌤 What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Biden faces pleas for help in El Paso

President Joe Biden faced pleas for help in addressing the migrant crisis as he traveled Sunday to the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time since taking office, visiting El Paso, where migrants are sleeping on the streets. Biden walked along a section of the rust-colored border wall that separates El Paso from Juarez, Mexico, and met with local officials, community leaders and others who are dealing daily with the humanitarian crisis. The number of migrants crossing the border – some lawfully seeking asylum, others entering illegally – has risen dramatically during Biden’s first two years in office. Read more

California Gov. Newsom asks Biden administration to declare federal emergency 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Sunday that he will ask the Biden administration to declare a federal emergency to support California’s ongoing storm response amid an unrelenting wave of brutal storms that left hundreds of thousands of Californians without power. Amid high winds and heavy rains, the worst of the storms is forecast to hit on Monday. During a winter storm update Sunday, Newsom said to expect the worst of the storm and "very intense weather" in the next 48 hours. "Don't test fate," Newsom said during the Sunday update. Read more

Just for subscribers:

These articles are for Paste BN subscribers. You can sign up here. Already a subscriber and want premium content texted to you every day? We can do that! Sign up for our subscriber-only texting campaign.

People who haven't had COVID will likely catch XBB.1.5

The newest COVID-19 variant is so contagious that even people who've avoided the disease so far are getting infected and the roughly 80% of Americans who've already had it are likely to catch it again, experts say. Essentially, everyone in the country is at risk for infection now, even if they're super careful, up to date on vaccines, or have caught it before, one virologist said. The number of severe infections and deaths remains relatively low, despite the high level of infections, she said, thanks to vaccinations – and probably – previous infections. But the lack of universal masking means that even people who do wear masks are vulnerable. Read more

One more thing

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to Paste BN here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

Facebook Twitter Email