Brazil President Blasts Critics, Vows to Fight Impeachment

BRASILIA, Brazil— Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff vowed Thursday to use “all legal means” to fight permanent ouster in an impeachment trial, raising the specter of continued political turmoil as interim leader Michel Temer tries to rescue...
Brazil President Blasts Critics, Vows to Fight Impeachment
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff greets supporters as she leaves Planalto president palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Hours after the Senate voted to suspend her, Rousseff blasted the impeachment process against her as "fraudulent" and promised to fight what she characterized as an injustice more painful than the torture she endured under a past military dictatorship. AP Photo/Eraldo Peres
The Associated Press
Updated:

BRASILIA, Brazil—Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff vowed Thursday, May 12, to use “all legal means” to fight permanent ouster in an impeachment trial, raising the specter of continued political turmoil as interim leader Michel Temer tries to rescue a sinking economy.

Speaking hours after the Senate voted to impeach her, in what might prove her last official event within the presidential palace, the nation’s first female president blasted the process as “fraudulent” and said it was an injustice more painful than the torture she endured under a past military dictatorship.

She again rejected critics’ accusation that she had used illegal accounting tricks in managing the federal budget.

“I may have committed errors but I never committed crimes,” Rousseff said during a 14-minute address, flanked by dozens of top officials and brass from her left-leaning Workers’ Party.

An anti-government demonstrator shows off her Brazilian flag motif face paint outside Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
An anti-government demonstrator shows off her Brazilian flag motif face paint outside Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 11, 2016. AP Photo/Felipe Dana