Brazil’s President Rejects Calls to Quit Amid New Corruption Claims<br />"The president of the republic is no longer in any condition to govern Brazil." Calls for Mr. Temer to step down multiplied on Thursday across Brazil’s political establishment, after a report by Globo, the<br />country’s most powerful media group, of a secret recording in which the president endorsed bribes paid to silence Eduardo Cunha, an imprisoned politician who helped orchestrate Ms. Rousseff’s ouster.<br />Critics of the beleaguered president have been organizing street protests calling for direct elections, a prospect feared by some allies of Mr. Temer over the potential for figures like Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist<br />and former president, to capitalize on the political tumult.<br />By SIMON ROMEROMAY 18, 2017<br />RIO DE JANEIRO — President Michel Temer of Brazil defied calls to resign on Thursday as an exploding scandal over claims<br />that he authorized the payment of hush money to a jailed ally engulfed Latin America’s largest country.<br />Mr. Neves, a top ally of Mr. Temer, was a key figure in the latest revelations, with Globo<br />describing how Mr. Neves asked for around $600,000 in bribes to pay for legal fees.<br />At the same time, some of Brazil’s most powerful men are fighting for their political survival in the newest scandal hitting Mr. Temer.
