Brazil Senate leader rejects Bolsonaro bid to impeach Supreme Court justice

The leader of Brazil's Senate said on Wednesday he would reject President Jair Bolsonaro's request to impeach Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Bolsonaro sought to impeach Moraes after he opened an investigation into the president for allegedly leaking to the media a secret federal police report of a hacking that backed up his views that Brazil's electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud.

Moraes had also begun investigating Bolsonaro for his attacks on the Supreme Electoral Court, which has maintained that the electronic system is safe and can be audited.

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, who had previously stated that he did not see grounds for the impeachment, confirmed that stance on Tuesday, saying that the request did not meet technical and legal requirements.

He added that he also hoped his decision would be an opportunity to re-establish dialogue and better relationship between the executive and judiciary.