A senior U.S. official declined on Wednesday at a Senate hearing to comment on the status in the United States of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, but said any such request from Brazil would be handled "expeditiously."

Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the future of relations with Brazil, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said: "We would handle any request from the Brazilian government expeditiously."

Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and faces mounting legal jeopardy in Brazil in various criminal and electoral probes.

The far-right leader received ovations from the conservative audience when he mentioned his steps to ease gun ownership regulations and his anti-abortion and anti-vaccine stances.

He questioned the results of the Brazilian elections of last October, saying he could not understand how the ballot numbers did not reflect the support he appeared to have on the streets.

Bolsonaro has made unfounded claims that Brazil's electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud, spawning a violent movement of election deniers.

The former president, who holds former U.S. President Donald Trump as his political idol, boasted that he was "the last president in the world to recognize" Joe Biden's election victory in 2020.