SerpApi.Org
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration won’t block the extradition of notorious “manosphere” influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate to the UK after they were arrested Saturday on rape and sex-trafficking charges, The Post has learned.
The Department of Justice has written in court papers that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has “sole discretion” to halt the brothers’ removal from the US, but White House and State Department officials said Wednesday that no such intervention is coming.
“The secretary has not spoken to the Tate Brothers or their lawyers. The State Department has no plans to act on this matter at this time,” a senior department official said, while a second source familiar with the matter also confirmed the planned extradition.
“There’s no role for us to play at this moment, or maybe ever, in that regard,” Rubio told reporters in the Philippines early Wednesday, “but I’m not going to opine on something that’s still working its way through the legal process.”
“The US has an extradition treaty with the UK and the administration intends to honor it in this case,” a senior administration official first told Axios.
STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST NEWS BY SUBSCRIBING TO MORNING REPORT NEWSLETTER
The Tates’ defense attorney, Joseph McBride, has referred to the charges against his clients as “politically motivated” and a “stitch-up job.”
The lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Based on testimony from four accusers, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service filed 38 new charges against the Tates — including rape, sex trafficking, sex assault, assault and “indecent images of a child and extreme pornography,” the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
Andrew Tate, 39, reportedly grew close to President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., after the 2016 election and he and Tristan, 38, remained vocal advocates for the Republican during the 2024 campaign.
The elder Tate first faced rape allegations in the UK in 2015, and the brothers moved to Romania, where they were indicted in 2023 on charges of rape, human trafficking and operating a criminal gang that sexually exploited women.
The Tates were later placed under house arrest as a criminal investigation broadened.
The brothers used appearances on popular right-wing podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens to deny all allegations against them — and liken their prosecutions to the “lawfare” facing Trump in the US.
After Trump’s re-election victory, White House special envoy Ric Grenell advocated for the Tate brothers’ release pending trial in Romania and amid the ongoing probe in the UK, according to sources and Romania’s then-foreign minister.
The White House denied that Grenell made that demand, but Romanian authorities still granted the Tates freedom to travel.
Both brothers decamped to Florida, where they had remained until their post recent arrest. US Customs and Border Protection officers seized their phones upon their arrival in Fort Lauderdale last year, though the devices were subsequently returned.
On July 15, the Tates attended a party at the residence of US special representative for global partnerships Paulo Zampolli in Washington, DC.
They were also spotted entering The Ned, an exclusive, members-only club and restaurant in the nation’s capital that is frequented by Trump administration officials.
“I did not know these allegations about them,” Zampolli — a former modeling agent who introduced Trump to his wife, Melania, in 1998 — told the Daily Mail, which first reported on the summer soiree. “That is on me.”
Three days later, Andrew and Tristan Tate were nabbed by US Marshals on the UK charges, which bring the number of total counts they face to 59.
