President tells journalist: ‘I want to punch you in the face’

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to punch a reporter repeatedly in the mouth after being asked about his wife’s links to an alleged corruption scheme, AFP reported.

“I so want to pound your mouth with punches,” the president said when a reporter from O Globo, posed the question.

According to AFP, the reporter was part of a group that met Bolsonaro after his regular Sunday visit to the Metropolitan Cathedral in Brasilia.

The president ignored protests from other journalists after the remarks and left without making further comments, said the report.

Soon after the president’s outburst O Globo issued a statement repudiating his “aggression … toward a journalist from our newspaper that was carrying out his job in a professional manner.”

Such intimidation “shows that Jair Bolsonaro does not acknowledge the duty of a public servant … to be accountable to the public.”