Embattled Brazilian President Michel Temer says he will only leave office if forced out because stepping down would be an admission of guilt in a corruption scandal that has led to growing calls for his ouster.
In an interview published yesterday in the Folha de S Paulo newspaper, Temer said he is innocent and will remain in office with the help of his shaken congressional base until December 2018 so he can go forward with austerity measures and unpopular reforms.
"I will not resign. If they want, force me out, because if I resign that will be a declaration of guilt," Temer said.
Brazil's supreme court has opened investigations into Temer for allegedly obstructing justice, passive corruption and being a member of a criminal organization.
The move follows release of an audiotape that appears to show him endorsing the payment of hush money to an imprisoned former ally in exchange for silence.
Businessman Joesley Batista, who made the recording, also said in plea bargain testimony that he paid Temer and his allies millions in bribes and illegal campaign funds.
Temer has also been accused of negligence for failure to take any measures after hearing Batista say he was paying bribes to two judges and a prosecutor. The meeting with Batista, the owner of giant meatpacker JBS, took place in March.
In the interview, Temer also said he was "naive to welcome a person (like Batista)" at the vice presidential palace in the middle of the night without any prior information published in his official schedule. The business mogul was already under three legal investigations at the time.
The pressure on Temer increased over the weekend with some allied parties leaving his base in Congress and Brazil's prestigious bar association deciding to push for the president's impeachment. Small protests happened in 19 cities nationwide against the embattled leader, whose popularity is currently at 9 per cent, according with a recent Datafolha institute poll.
As a result, consultancy Eurasia increased from 20 to 70 per cent the chances that Temer will not finish his term.
Later yesterday, Brazil's top court decided to wait for Batista to hand over to federal police the equipment used to record the president and the original audio obtained from their conversation. Temer's defense insists they should be audited before the investigations go ahead.
Temer's lawyers welcomed the court's decision to audit the material, which gives more the president more time to organize his defense.
Claudio Lamachia, the head of Brazil's bar association, kept the pressure on the president, though, criticizing Temer and introducing the case his organization will make for his impeachment.
The bar association will give to Lower House Speaker Rodrigo Maia later this week its first request for Temer's impeachment. There are already eight requests on Maia's table.
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