With the Brazilian president and ex-president already under investigation, a Supreme Court justice is turning his glare to the vice president. Michel Temer could face impeachment in Brazil, as could President Dilma Rousseff, AP reported. Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio Mello on Tuesday ordered Brazil’s lower house to begin proceedings against Vice President Michel Temer by convening an impeachment committee. Mello said the committee must consider putting the vice president on trial on suspicion of helping President Dilma Rousseff’s alleged manipulation of the government budget in the runup to her 2014 reelection. A separate committee is in the process of reviewing similar charges against the president before an impeachment vote slated for mid-April. However, Eduardo Cunha, who serves as the lower house’s speaker and is third in line to the presidency, said he would appeal the Supreme Court justice’s request. He called it an unprecedented move by Brazil’s judiciary. The vice president on Tuesday stepped down as the leader of the Democratic Movement Party, previously the largest junior coalition partner in Rousseff’s government, until it pulled out last week.
