US President Donald Trump on Thursday called the election in Brazil earlier this week "a disgrace" as well as an "embarrassment" to the Brazilian people.
"I don't want to comment on it right now" Trump told reporters when asked who he considered the legitimate winner, as he departed Joint Base Andrews for a misterm campaign rally in South Carolina.
"But I thought the election was a very great embarrassment to the people of Brazil," he said, adding that he had watched the election without taking sides.
Trump claimed there was a "discrepancy" in the election and pointed to market performance as evidence of what he described as a "disgraceful situation" for Brazil.
The remarks came after defeated conservative presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro arrived in the US following his loss to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sunday's runoff election.
Bolsonaro, who has claimed electoral fraud without providing evidence, has vowed to lead the opposition from the US state of Florida. He left Brazil despite a Supreme Court order requiring him to surrender his passports amid an investigation into alleged money laundering and financial fraud.
The US State Department confirmed that Bolsonaro and his immediate family had been granted visas to enter the country.
