Andrew and Tristan Tate declare they’re ‘misunderstood’ as Ron DeSantis says brothers ‘not welcome’ in Florida: Live

President Donald Trump insisted he “knows nothing” about Andrew and Tristan Tate returning to the US on Thursday amid reports of his administration pressing Romanian authorities to lift travel restrictions on the brothers.

Self-proclaimed misogynist influencer brothers, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday after authorities lifted travel restrictions on the siblings.

Mr Trump on Thursday told reporters at the Oval Office that he did not know anything about the circumstances: “I just know nothing about it. We’ll check it out. We’ll let you know,” he said.

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Controversial social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate flew into Florida Thursday amid a Romania human trafficking investigation and quickly sought a temporary restraining order against an American woman who had accused the brothers of “luring” her to Romania to “recruit” her into sex work.

The brothers arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport after a Romanian court ruled they could finally leave the country after more than two years.

The Tates are accused of human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group to sexually exploit women in Romania. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. The brothers have denied all allegations.

Keir Starmer is facing calls to raise reports Donald Trump’s administration pressed the Romanian government to lift travel restrictions that allowed Andrew Tate to leave the country where he is facing trafficking charges.

Alicia Kearns, the former chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said the prime minister had to make clear to Mr Trump that the Tate brothers “have charges to face in Romania and UK”, when he meets the US President in the White House.

The controversial social media influencer, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, are facing a string of criminal charges in Romania including rape, human trafficking and exploiting women. Both deny all the charges.

Kate Devlin reports.

Both brothers are charged with human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women in Romania, and were first arrested in late 2022 alongside two women.

They have repeatedly denied the charges against them, and after a period in custody, they were released under house arrest.

In December a court in Bucharest ruled that the case against the Tates and the two Romanian women could not go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors.

That decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal was a huge setback for Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, but it did not mean the defendants could walk free.

The case has not been closed, and there is also a separate legal case against the brothers in Romania.

Andrew Tate, the controversial former kickboxing world champion turned social media influencer who is charged with human trafficking in Romania, has arrived in the US.

Tate, alongside his brother Tristan, were first arrested three years ago on allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. They denied all claims.

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Four women who have accused Tate of rape and coercive control and have brought a civil claim against him in the UK have said the news has left them “retraumatised”.

In a joint statement, they said: “We are in disbelief and feel retraumatised by the news that the Romanian authorities have given into pressure from the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate to travel around Europe and to the US.

“We can only hope that the British authorities finally take action, do something about this terrifying unfolding situation and ensure he faces justice in the UK.”

Pesident Donald Trump is the “primary” reason the Tate brothers feel safe to return to the US, their lawyers reportedly said in a statement.

“As a result, they are excited to call America their home again,” Joseph McBride said, according to the BBC.

He added that Andrew and Tristan Tate “plan to return to Romania at the end of March to meet the prosecutor before returning to the United States”.

Both brothers have been vocal supporters of Trump, with Romania’s foreign minister recently denying that the US administration had pressured Bucharest to lift travel restrictions.

The US president yesterday told reporters that he knew nothing about the brothers’ release.

Andrew Tate first rose to prominence after appearing on the reality TV show in 2016, but was removed after six days after a video emerged that appeared to show him attacking a woman.

At the time, the kickboxing champion said the footage had been edited and was a “total lie trying to make me look bad”.

However, his audience has significantly grown over the last decade and he now boasts over 10 million followers on X, after Elon Musk reinstated his account.

He regularly flaunts an ultra-luxurious lifestyle of private jets, cars and yachts, and previously told environmental activist Greta Thunberg that he would send a list of the “respective enormous emissions” of his 33 cars.

His impact in spreading misogyny among young men has been noted, and he has previously described women as “intrinsically lazy” and claimed “there was no such thing as an independent female”.

He also stated that he was “absolutely a misogynist” during an interview, and was previously banned from Twitter for saying women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted.

As a result of his ideology, he remains banned on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.