Brazil's Rousseff says democracy at risk in Senate trial

By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - A defiant President Dilma Rousseff warned Brazilians on Monday that her conservative opponents were trampling on democracy by using trumped-up charges to oust her and roll back the social advances of the past 13 years. Presenting her defense at a trial in the Senate, in what may be her last public appearance as president, the leftist leader said Brazil's economic elite had sought to destabilize her government since her narrow re-election to a second four-year term in 2014. Rousseff is expected to become the first Brazilian leader in more than 20 years to be dismissed from office when the Senate rules on Tuesday or early Wednesday on allegations that she broke budgetary rules by using money from state banks to boost public spending.

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