[6][7] His parents, along with three older siblings, immigrated to Brazil from Btaaboura, a small village in northern Lebanon, to escape famine and instability due to World War I.

[12] After failing chemistry and physics classes in his first year of high school, he gave up the "curso científico", which prioritized hard sciences and math.

In 1957, he moved to São Paulo to finish high school in the "curso clássico", composed mainly of subjects in the humanities and languages.

In his works, he showed himself to be a supporter of parliamentarism and a political recall system, while opposing economic interventionism and tax increases.

A released video made by investigators shows Rodrigo Rocha Loures, former Temer aide, carrying a suitcase filled with about $150,000 in cash allegedly being sent from JBS S.A. to the president.

Temer is described as gaining the loyalty of lower class Brazilians by strengthening social programs and opposing Lula da Silva.

The report has the status "sensitive but unclassified" with Temer stating that Lula da Silva "might finally begin to heed his friends on the left" and would "be led away from the orthodox macro-economic policies that have dominated his first term".

He said Rousseff had made him look like a "decorative" vice president, not an active one, despite having been invited to support her government several times in the dialogue with Congress, a role he only accepted in 2015.

As investigations following Operation Car Wash grew, allegations against members of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) began to arise.

[29] After a Supreme Court judge, Justice Mello, ruled Cunha's actions wrong, he suggested that Temer should face impeachment proceedings.

[29] Another attempt to impeach Temer[30] began with the decision on 6 April 2016, by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, to form a commission for termination analysis of liability for crime offered by attorney Mariel M. Marra.

[32][33] On 17 May 2016, Justice Marco Aurélio Mello allowed the impeachment request to enter the agenda of the Supreme Federal Court plenary session.

[42] The vice-president position then became vacant, with the President of the Chamber of Deputies (at the time Rodrigo Maia) acting as the first constitutional substitute during his term.

[43] In October 2016, the Constitution of Brazil was amended by deputies[44] to cap public spending, effectively frozen for twenty years, adjusted for inflation only.

Vieira Lima resigned on 25 November 2016, and opposition leaders stated that they would seek President Temer's impeachment over this incident.

He had recent problems with the Brazilian Historical Heritage Institute due to the architectural changes he made to the Presidential Palace.

[51][52][53][54][55][56] On 28 April 2017, trade unions called for a general strike against the pension and labor reforms proposed in his government,[57] which saw shutdowns of various public services in state capitals and major cities.

[59] On 16 February 2018, Temer signed a law aimed at tackling the organised crime element in Rio de Janeiro, transferring full control of security to the military.

[62] On 17 May 2017, secretly taped recordings leaked by O Globo, a leading national newspaper, reveal the President discussing hush money pay-offs with Joesley Batista, the businessman who runs the country's biggest meat-packing firm JBS,[63][64][65][66] prompting talk of trying again to impeach him.

[73] President Temer's refusal to resign made him increasingly unpopular and provoked not only a political stalemate but also uncertainty, plunging the country into crisis and amplifying the worst recession in its history.

[5][74][75] 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.

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.

[79] The lower house was required to vote on the charges, which stemmed from 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.

[82] 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.

[98][99] In 2002, Temer met Marcela Tedeschi (born 1983), who was attending the annual political convention of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) with her uncle Geraldo, a Paulínia municipal employee.