Brazil High Court Judge Rejects Adding Corruption to Rousseff Trial

Justice Rosa Weber on Friday evening rejected the petition by opposition lawmaker Arnaldo Faria de Sa to add testimony linking Rousseff to corruption to the charges on fiscal maneuvering she is facing. That testimony accuses the president of knowing what was happening in the Petrobras corruption network and trying to obstruct the judicial investigation into it.

The legislative commission examining the legal merits of subjecting Rousseff to impeachment last week rejected incorporating the testimony linking her to the Petrobras scheme.

The commission, comprised of 65 lawmakers, will prepare a document that, if it receives the green light, will be submitted to the full lower house, where it needs the support of a two-thirds majority to be forwarded to the Senate.

The upper chamber would then decide by a simple majority whether or not to put Rousseff on trial. If she goes to trial, the president provisionally would have to step down from her post for 180 days.

The 180-day period will be what the Senate is allowed to conclude the trial to determine if Rousseff would be replaced by Vice President Michel Temer, who would complete the term running until Jan. 1, 2019.