Accused rapist and sex trafficker Andrew Tate has President Donald Trump fighting in his corner on the international stage.
The Trump White House has put pressure on authorities in Romania to allow travel for Tate, a former pro kickboxer who had until last month been under house arrest in the country since August, according to the Financial Times.
Tate, his brother and four other suspects face accusations of human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, money laundering, and forming an organized criminal group, charges which they all deny.
The court replaced the strict house arrest order on Tate with a lesser “judicial control” measure until the outcome of a criminal investigation, according to a spokesperson. Despite this meaning he can now move around Romania, Trump’s inner circle want more.
The matter was reportedly even discussed with Romanian authorities on the sidelines at the Munich Security Conference last week.
The Financial Times reported that Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell was pulled aside by Romania’s foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu. The paper said the Trump administration applied pressure on the Romanians.
This was confirmed by three unnamed sources, while a fourth told the British broadsheet that a formal request was made to allow the brothers to travel before their legal case has concluded.
Hurezeanu’s spokesperson confirmed a chat had taken place, but didn’t go into specifics. “Romanian courts are independent and operate based on the law, there is due process,” they told the paper.
The diplomat said he and Grenell had “known each other for a long time,” but the latter claimed he does not know him at all. Grenell claimed Hurezeanu essentially accosted him in the hallway and added that “no substantive conversation” took place.
He claimed Hurezeanu asked for a meeting and also reaffirmed his support for the dual U.S.-British citizens. “I support the Tate brothers as evident by my publicly available tweets,” he said.
Under the fresh court order, Tate must not leave Romania, has to regularly check in with police and cannot speak with witnesses in the case.
Tate and his brother will be extradited to the U.K. after the trial, regardless of the result. They face separate allegations in the U.K.—on suspicion of rape, human trafficking, and forming and organizing a crime group to sexually exploit women.
The Tate brothers have also garnered words of support from Matt Gaetz and have been generally feted in right-wing and conservative circles in the U.S. Elon Musk even seemed to suggest that Tate running for prime minister would be good for Britain.
