Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff for impeachment had been filed with the Chamber of Deputies against Rousseff, but Cunha did not accept any, except for that of Hélio Bicudo and lawyers Miguel Reale Júnior and Janaína Paschoal. Much of the pro-impeachment movement (including the Free Brazil group and ) joined Bicudo's request. Congressmen supportive of the impeachment also organized a petition in its favor, which garnered the signatures of two million Brazilians. Documents presented to the House attempted to implicate Rousseff in the controversy uncovered by Operation Car Wash, citing a failure to investigate corruption allegations against former President Luiz Lula da Silva, in addition
Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in testimony to the committee investigating Operation Car Wash allegations, the culmination of an internal investigation that had lasted eleven months. On 19 October 2016, Cunha was arrested on charges of corruption and bribery related to a Petrobras drillship purchase. In the Brazilian political system, the president and vice president run on the same ticket but have constitutionally separate terms. Michel Temer, who was president of the Chamber during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso presidency from 1995 to 2003, is a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), which announced it was running against the Rousseff government in March 2016.