Rightwing columnist smacks journalist Glenn Greenwald on Brazil radio show

Greenwald has faced backlash from far right after series of articles damaging to Jair Bolsonaro’s government

Anna Jean Kaiser in Rio de Janeiro
@annajkaiser
Thu 7 Nov 2019 22.03 GMT
Last modified on Thu 7 Nov 2019 22.33 GMT

Brazil’s bitterly divided politics reached a new low on Thursday, when a rightwing columnist smacked the US journalist Glenn Greenwald in the face on a live radio program.

Greenwald and Augusto Nunes are prominent figures on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but Thursday’s physical violence – which was being livestreamed – left Brazilians stunned.

Greenwald has become a central figure in Brazilian politics after publishing a string of articles challenged the legitimacy of the country’s largest-ever corruption investigation.

His reporting – based on a trove of leaked mobile phone messages – has been particularly damaging for the government of Jair Bolsonaro, making Greenwald a hate figure for those on Brazil’s far right, who have accused him of illegal hacking.

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