SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's government on Tuesday announced it is reducing its diplomatic presence in Argentina after renewed attacks by Argentine President Javier Milei on his counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
It is the first time in recent history that such a move takes place between the two neighbors.
A spokesperson for Brazil's foreign office told The Associated Press that Milei has called Lula “a thief” three times since Sunday. He used similar wording on July 25 at the party convention of Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the former president who will be Lula's rival in October's election.
Milei also accused Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of being “trash” during the convention. De Moraes denied a request by the Argentine president to visit former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt.
The Brazilian government recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires, Julio Bitelli, in July, a day after Milei's first remarks against Lula. Since then, Brazil's interests in Argentina are represented by a chargé d’affaires, a lower-ranked position.
Bitelli will not return to Argentina as long as Milei continues to make aggressive comments toward Lula, the spokesperson said.
The Brazilian president has not commented on Milei's remarks. The two have had a frosty relationship since the Argentine leader took office in December 2023.
Milei is a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration is at odds with Lula. Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department revoked the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to Washington in retaliation for Brazil’s denial of visas last month for two American diplomats who sought to visit ahead of upcoming elections.
Lula was officially declared candidate for reelection Sunday at his Workers' Party convention, where many voiced concerns of foreign interference in the country's vote.
Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, a conservative who will once again be Lula's running mate, said the country's electronic voting system was so effective that “it doesn't accept any votes from Argentines and Americans,” in a reference to Milei and Trump.
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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visits the Andarai Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department knew or should have known for weeks that its case against a former Olympian charged with intentionally damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was flawed, and that he bore no responsibility for longstanding problems at the landmark, defense lawyers said Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Friday moved to dismiss the indictment against David Hearn, saying in a 20-page filing that newly produced evidence from the Interior Department showed the former Olympic canoeist was not responsible for damage to the pool's lining.
Pirro’s office attributed the damage instead to a botched installation by a contractor as well as “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration” in the weeks surrounding July 4, as directed by President Donald Trump.
Lawyers for Hearn on Tuesday urged a judge to permanently dismiss the case and foreclose the possibility that the Trump administration could revive it. They took issue with Pirro's assertion that prosecutors only recently learned about the pre-existing defects at the pool, saying the government had “disregarded readily available evidence” that the liner was already failing because of installation flaws.
“From the outset, the evidence showed that the pool liner was already failing and that Mr. Hearn did not cause the damage alleged in the indictment,'' Hearn's legal team argued in a 28-page motion filed Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court.
The poor condition of the pool was “plainly visible” for weeks and was publicly documented through photographs, video and news reports, the lawyers wrote.
“Defying both decency and common sense, the government proceeded to indict Mr. Hearn before it had obtained or evaluated the information necessary to establish a good-faith basis for the charge,” the defense attorneys wrote.
In addition, they say, the government's key eyewitness was never presented to the grand jury, and a key prosecution witness on the question of damages “stated that the repairs at issue would have been necessary regardless of Mr. Hearn's alleged conduct and could not identify any additional cost caused by Mr. Hearn.”
The contractor, Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, “publicly acknowledged, before Mr. Hearn was indicted, that portions of the project required repair,” the lawyers said. The firm was awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the pool's concrete floor.
A spokesperson for Pirro’s office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Trump continued to insist on Tuesday night that the pool had been vandalized and defended the contractors.
“They did a beautiful job," Trump said. "There were a couple of little things, but that was not a big deal. And everybody saw the vandalism. All you have to do is look at the tape.”
The president said that Pirro was “totally wrong.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has backed Trump's claims that vandals damaged the pool.
The dismissal of charges against Hearn was an embarrassing setback for the Justice Department and marked a rare moment during Trump’s second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying him.
Hearn has said he was on a bike ride June 19 when he reached in to examine the pool’s newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool. But he said he obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.
Felony charges, including a possible 10-year prison sentence, were brought “without a meaningful investigation into the central and obvious question in this case: whether Mr. Hearn caused, or even could have caused, any damage to the Reflecting Pool,'' Hearn's lawyers said.
The Washington Monument is seen in the background of the now drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, is shown, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The Washington Monument is seen in the background of the now drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro listens as Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers Meeting, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP)
