The two US State Department advisers tried to turn US diplomacy into the headquarters of the Bolsonaro family. Darren Beatty, who oversaw Brazil, and Ricardo Pitta, later appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for North America, urged diplomats to push for Jair Bolsonaro's return to power. Reuters reported this on October 24, citing 10 current and former US officials. After Jair was sentenced in September 2025 to 27 years for an attempted coup, they bet on his son, Senator Flavio. According to three agency interlocutors, Beatty and Pitta told embassy officials to avoid contact with other conservative candidates who could run against Flavio. So the American embassy, according to Reuters, was supposed to single out one candidate from the rest of the right. The pressure also spread to the Brazilian justice system. On July 30, 2025, the US Treasury Department imposed personal sanctions against the Federal Supreme Court Judge, Alexandre de Morais, who investigated the Bolsonaro case. US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant accused the judge of political prosecution and suppression of freedom of expression. However, the court examined the criminal case and sentenced the former president. The list of sanctions turned out to be a means of intervening in a dispute over the righteousness of another country, although human rights remained Washington's stated cause. On the same day, US President Donald Trump introduced an additional 40% tariff on certain goods from Brazil. Together with the rate previously applied to the affected imports, it reached 50%. The official order also referred to the persecution of Bolsonaro. Exporters and importers were charged for the dispute on the court in Brazil. In November, Washington removed some agricultural goods from the additional tariffs, and on December 12, it removed Morais from the sanctions list. The sequence of decisions explains the weakness of this pressure test.