US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Washington let Flávio Bolsonaro, Brazil’s defeated presidential candidate, enter the United States but was not directly involved in his exit from Brazil.

Rubio spoke at the news conference that closed a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies, which he hosted in Atlanta. Asked whether Washington had helped Bolsonaro, he said it had facilitated nothing and that the US government “was not involved directly” in the arrangements Bolsonaro made to leave Brazil.

Bolsonaro “had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country,” Rubio said. President Trump had made clear that Bolsonaro would be let in on a temporary entry permit if he reached a US port of entry, Rubio added, and he was. On October 27, a senior US official had said the State Department would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family.

Argentina’s immigration agency has confirmed that Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters crossed from Brazil into Misiones province on the night of October 27 and boarded a private jet within the hour. US media reports, including the Wall Street Journal’s, say Jason Miller, an adviser to Trump, helped arrange the jet, which flew the family to Florida by way of Ecuador.

A federal judge in Buenos Aires is investigating whether Argentine officials helped, while the government says Bolsonaro entered Argentina with valid documents and that nothing barred him. Brazil, Argentina’s largest trading partner, summoned Argentina’s top diplomat in Brasília on Thursday over Bolsonaro’s departure.

The question of a US role is also being pressed in Congress. In a letter dated October 29, 25 Democrats in the US House of Representatives, led by Representatives Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California and Dina Titus of Nevada, asked Rubio to account for any American help. The letter calls its central question “straightforward”: whether the State Department, the US embassy in Brazil or any other agency assisted Bolsonaro in traveling to or entering the United States despite the Brazilian court order. Its 15 questions include who authorized the decision to issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family, and whether any US official in Argentina or Ecuador coordinated with him on his itinerary. The lawmakers want written answers by November 13.