Bolsonaro's latest crisis threatens Brazil's virus response

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — As Brazil careens toward a full-blown public health emergency and economic meltdown, President Jair Bolsonaro has managed to add a third ingredient to the toxic mix: political crisis. Even if it doesn’t speed his downfall, it will render Brazilians more vulnerable to the pandemic.

Bolsonaro’s decision last week to replace the federal police chief – and cross his popular justice minister, Sérgio Moro, who quit and alleged impropriety – has sparked an investigation into the president’s actions that will be conducted by the federal police itself. Already the scandal threatens to supplant coronavirus as the day’s most urgent matter.

“He is dividing the attention of the government and of society, and draining efforts and energy that, in such a grave moment of pandemic, should be exclusively concentrated on efforts to fight COVID-19,” said Paulo Calmon, a professor of political science at the University of Brasilia.

During the announcement of his resignation Friday, Moro said Bolsonaro told him on multiple occasions that he wanted to replace the federal police chief with someone who would give him access to police investigations, some of which reportedly target one or more of the president's sons. That pitched the administration into turmoil and prompted Bolsonaro’s own prosecutor-general to call for a Supreme Court investigation. Irate Brazilians observing government stay-at-home recommendations because of the virus banged pots and pans from their windows in protest.

Justice Celso de Mello authorized the probe into Bolsonaro’s actions late Monday, including possible crimes of coercion and corruption, and gave the federal police 60 days to question Moro.

“The President of the Republic — who is also subject to the laws, like any other citizen of this country — is not...