Secret recordings reveal conspiracy to depose Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff

Romera Jucá, the interim planning minister of Brazil, has stepped down in disgrace less than two weeks after taking office. The reason? Leaked recordings apparently show him plotting to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office in order to end the investigation into the "Car Wash" corruption scandal, Folha de São Paulo reports. The scandal involves alleged money laundering and kickbacks at Petrobras, the state-owned oil company, and in the recording Jucá speaks with former oil executive Sergio Machado. Both men are targets of the investigation.

Rousseff has been suspended from the presidency since May 12, when impeachment proceedings against her were initiated over a different scandal involving alleged manipulation of government accounts. Seven of the 24 people interim President Michel Temer appointed to his cabinet are subjects of the Car Wash investigation, and Temer himself was recently fined for violating campaign finance rules.

In the recordings, Jucá speaks of a "national pact," apparently involving both the military (which has surrounded Rousseff's house) and several members of Brazil's Supreme Court, which he says will quash the investigation as soon as she is removed from office.