Trump says he will speak with Lula but calls Brazil’s presidential election a ‘disgrace’

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he intends to speak with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva following his reelection, but again sharply criticized the vote that returned Lula to office.

Asked whether he planned to speak with Lula and congratulate him, Trump said: “I will talk to him, but I think the election was a disgrace in Brazil.”

When pressed on who he considered the legitimate winner of the election, Trump declined to answer directly.

“I don’t want to comment,” he said. “But I thought the election was a great embarrassment to the people of Brazil.”

Lula defeated Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday’s runoff with 51.79% of the valid vote. Trump has repeatedly criticized the conduct of the election since the result was announced, while stopping short of recognizing Bolsonaro’s claim that he is Brazil’s “rightful president.”

Trump had previously said he likes Lula and gets along with him, but argued that the way the election was conducted and tabulated looked “terrible.”

In separate remarks Thursday, Trump strongly defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following the latest shake-up in senior Pentagon leadership.

“Pete Hegseth is doing a great job. He is a great warrior,” Trump said. “I think he is the best in his job in many years.”

Trump also repeated his claim that he would have won California if the state had an “honest vote count” and accused Democrats of focusing excessively on impeachment.

“All the Democrats do is talk about impeaching everybody,” Trump said. “If we wanted to play that game, we could play it just as well.”