Biden, Lula vow to defend democracy in Americas

President Joe Biden and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said at the White House that the two biggest countries in the Americas have successfully seen off attacks on their democracies and will now work together on fighting the climate crisis.

Meeting in the Oval Office, Biden and Lula expressed solidarity over their similar paths.

"Both our nations' strong democracies have been tested," Biden told Lula, and "both in the United States and Brazil, democracy prevailed."

Biden said the countries' "shared values... put us on the same page, particularly, especially, when it comes to the climate crisis."

Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020, but two months later a mob of Trump supporters stormed Congress believing his conspiracy theory that he'd been the real election winner.

In Brazil, Lula defeated right-winger Jair Bolsonaro and took office this January, but a mob of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings shortly after.

"We have some issues on which we can work together," Lula told Biden. "First is to never again allow" the anti-democratic mob attacks.

Touting Brazil's return to the international arena, Lula said his predecessor's "world started and ended with fake news – in the morning, afternoon and at night. It seemed that he despised international relations."

One area where Biden and Lula sharply disagree is over Ukraine, and the subject of Russia's invasion did not come up during their introductory remarks, before reporters were ushered from the room