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Brazil's Temer says 'I won't resign, oust me if you want'

The Supreme Court has opened an investigation into the revelations that were part of plea bargain testimony by the billionaire owners of meatpacking giant JBS SA.

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Brazilian President Michel Temer, facing growing calls for his resignation amid a corruption scandal, will not step down even if he is formally indicted by the Supreme Court, he said in an interview in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper on Monday.

Brazilians who have become inured to the massive, three-year corruption investigation were shocked last week by the disclosure of a recording that appeared to show Temer condoning the payment of hush money to a lawmaker jailed in a corruption probe.

The Supreme Court has opened an investigation into the revelations that were part of plea bargain testimony by the billionaire owners of meatpacking giant JBS SA.

A decision by the court is expected on Wednesday.

"I will not resign. Oust me if you want, but if I stepped down, I would be admitting guilt," said Temer, who has said the recording of his meeting with JBS chairman Joesley Batista was doctored and has asked the Supreme Court to suspend its investigation.

The scandal has threatened to tear apart Temer's coalition in Congress and leave Latin America's largest economy adrift as the president fights for his political survival, just a year after the impeachment of his predecessor.

Temer told the newspaper he is "absolutely" sure that he is capable of finishing his term through the end of 2018 without giving up on his legislative agenda, which includes an ambitious overhaul of the country's labor and social security regulations.

His coalition had already been struggling to muster the votes for the unpopular social security reform. Financial markets, which had largely anticipated approval of the reforms, slumped last week when the scandal broke.

"I will demonstrate political strength in coming weeks precisely by putting important bills to vote (in Congress)," Temer told Folha. "I am not doomed."

The president, who took office a year ago after the ouster of former running mate Dilma Rousseff, has come under unrelenting pressure to step down and let Congress elect a new president for the remainder of his term.

Rede Globo, the country's largest media conglomerate, urged Temer to resign in a newspaper editorial on Friday.

Late Saturday, the Brazilian Bar Association said it would file an impeachment motion against Temer in Congress, arguing that the recording, if proven to be accurate, showed a dereliction of presidential duties to uphold the law.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched on Sunday in cities including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, chanting and waving banners reading "Temer Out!"

Temer said the recording was not proof of wrongdoing and he did not report the vague references to bribery of officials because he did not believe them.

"I have shown, with relative success, that what that businessman did was to induce a conversation," Temer told Folha, acknowledging that he had been wrong to make no record of his meeting with the businessman in the official ledger of visitors.

 

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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