Brazil president presents graft defense, denies bribery
 

BRASILIA: Lawyers for Brazil’s President Michel Temer presented their defence on Wednesday against corruption charges that threaten to drive him from ******, denying allegations that he took a $150,000 bribe.

They filed a written defense to a committee in Congress tasked with drawing up a recommendation on whether he should face trial over the allegations. Temer faces a ****** of hearings before lawmakers vote on whether he should face a criminal trial over claims he accepted the bribe from a meatpacking firm.

He has denied the accusation, which has made him the first sitting Brazilian president to face formal criminal charges. "He committed ** crime," said his lawyer Antonio Claudio Mariz de Oliveira after filing the written defense.

"This accusation is **t against an ordinary citizen. It is against the president of the republic and against Brazil." Police arrested an adviser of Temer’s with a suitcase full of money, which prosecutors allege was destined for Temer as a bribe.

A video has also emerged of Temer apparently approving the payment of hush money to a jailed ally. Temer’s lawyer said Wednesday that video was "technically doubtful."

Former vice-president Temer took over as president last year after his leftist predecessor Dilma Rousseff was impeached on charges of budgetary wrongdoing which she branded a "coup."

Temer is trying to push through reforms to save Brazil from recession. But his time in ****** has been blighted by the resignations of ministers and corruption claims creeping ever closer to his door.

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