Brasília, Brazil - Brazil said Wednesday it had summoned the US charge d'affaires in a diplomatic row following President Donald Trump's criticism of the coup trial of his right-wing ally, ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro.

The foreign ministry told AFP that envoy Gabriel Escobar will be called to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of "political persecution," echoing Trump's claims of a "witch hunt" against the 70-year-old Brazilian firebrand.

Trump on Monday urged Brazilian authorities to "LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE," in a post on social media.

"I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year!" the US president wrote.

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Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who narrowly beat Bolsonaro in a divisive election in 2022, has hit back at Trump's "interference."

Bolsonaro denies he was involved in an attempt to wrest power back from Lula in an alleged coup plot prosecutors say failed only for a lack of military backing.

After the plot fizzled, rioting supporters known as "Bolsonaristas" raided government buildings in 2023 as they urged the military to oust Lula. Bolsonaro was abroad at the time.

The case against Bolsonaro carries echoes of Trump's prosecution over the January 6, 2021, attacks by his supporters, who overran Congress to try and reverse his election loss.

Trump pleaded not guilty, and the case was abandoned when he was re-elected president.

The cases have drawn the Trump and Bolsonaro families together, with the Brazilian ex-leader's sons lobbying for US sanctions against a Supreme Court judge sitting on the ex-president's trial.