By Luciana Magalhaes
WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - On his first visit to Washington since losing a presidential election, Flavio Bolsonaro brushed aside doubts about his grip on Brazil's political right and said he was ready to stand for the Liberal Party in the next race, which he argued might come sooner than expected.
Speaking to Reuters on Thursday between meetings to sort out his US immigration status, Bolsonaro rejected critics -- including reelected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- who brand him a runaway for making a dash to the US after last month's vote.
"That is a pejorative way of trying to attack me," he said. "Honestly, I couldn't care less. I am convinced that I needed to be here."
A Quaest opinion poll showed 62% of Brazilians disapproved of him leaving the country after the runoff, which Lula won by a margin of more than 4 million votes.
The senator, who was expected to see US officials in Washington, declined to say with whom he was meeting.
READY TO RUN
The son of former President Jair Bolsonaro -- who is serving a 27-year sentence for a coup plot after he lost the 2022 election -- said he believes economic problems will cut short Lula's fourth term.
"Brazil is going to go broke," he said, claiming families were struggling with too much debt and businesses were unwilling to invest in a country with what he said was an unfair legal system.
"If a new electoral race emerges, I am ready to return."
Bolsonaro offered few details about his standing in the right-wing Liberal Party, but said he intended to run under its banner again.
Before fleeing the country, he alleged without evidence that the election had been fraudulent, despite the electoral court declaring Lula the winner. His political allies have also conceded the result.
Bolsonaro acknowledged that his post-election legal challenges face long odds.
"If you ask me whether I think they’ll go anywhere, I doubt it," he said, accusing the justice system of being in thrall to the government without citing evidence.
He declined to repeat language used in a letter sent shortly after he arrived in the United States, in which he initially described himself as "president-elect" before the wording was changed to "leader."
Asked whether he regarded himself as the president-elect, Bolsonaro did not answer directly.
"To millions of Brazilians, that’s who I am," he said.
Brazil's Supreme Court had ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passport before he left the country, citing federal money-laundering investigations and concerns that he might flee. Bolsonaro travelled with his family to the United States via Argentina and Ecuador.
He declined to tell Reuters who assisted his family during the journey or how the travel was arranged.
GRATEFUL TO TRUMP
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on October 31 that Washington had not been directly involved in Bolsonaro's departure from Brazil. Reuters and other media outlets reported last week that Jason Miller, a White House official, helped arrange the journey.
Bolsonaro said he could not discuss matters regarding his flight to the US.
He also said he was not afraid of being investigated but believed he would be unfairly treated in Brazil.
Senator Bolsonaro has not met President Donald Trump since arriving in Florida. He said neither the United States nor other foreign governments had interfered in Brazil's election.
"He may have had his preference, but he took no action to influence the election results in Brazil," Bolsonaro said of Trump.
Flavio Bolsonaro said he was grateful to the president, who declared on October 31 that the senator could stay in the US as long as he wanted.
Trump has called the Brazilian election "a disgrace." Outside observers have described it as free and fair.
In the 50-minute interview, the Brazilian said he had not decided whether he and his family would remain in Florida, adding that he had the means to support himself in the US as a senator, lawyer and businessman, but declining to say whether he had transferred money to the country.
(Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
