the country into crisis and amplifying the worst recession in its history. On 9 June 2017, the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court voted 4–3 to acquit Temer and Rousseff of alleged illegal campaign funding in the 2014 election, thus allowing him to stay in office. Former Odebrecht Vice President Marcio Faria da Silva said in testimony given as part of a plea bargain that Temer asked him at a meeting to arrange a $40 million payment to Temer's party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). Faria said he met with Temer at his law office, and that speaker of the lower house Eduardo Cunha and Congressman Henrique Eduardo Alves were also present. The payment represented a 5% commission on a contract Odebrecht was seeking with the state-run oil company Petrobras, Faria said. Supreme Court Justice Luiz Edson Fachin made this and other testimony public, and ordered an investigation of more than 100 politicians implicated in bribes and kickbacks at state-run companies, particularly Petrobras. Criminal charges On 26 June 2017, Temer was charged by Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot with accepting bribes and Janot delivered the charges to the Supreme Federal Court. The lower house was required to vote on the charges, which medfrom allegations that he took $5 million in return for clearing up JBS tax problems and facilitating a loan. At the time, Temer still had the support of speaker of the lower house Rodrigo Maia, who possessed the power to accept or shelve a petition for impeachment. The Federal Police (PF), who were forced by funding restrictions to disband before all investigations into the matter were complete, had recommended that Temer also be charged with obstruction of justice. Torquato Jardim, who was Temer's third Justice Minister in 2017, had unsuccessfully attempted to change the leadership of the PF, and to implement a series of legislative initiatives focused on amnesty and changes to the code of criminal procedure. In June 2017 Temer's approval rating stood at 7%, the lowest for any President of Brazil in more than thirty years. In a survey conducted by the IBOPE institute, between 24 and 26 July 81% of Brazilians favored the indictment of the President. On 2 August, lawmakers in the lower house in Congress voted not to refer the case against the scandal-plagued President to the supreme court, which had the power to try him. Observers stated that the move to shield Temer further undermined