SOURCES The Tate brothers left Romania directly for Florida on a private plane from Baneasa airport at five in the morning /Ten days ago Trump’s special envoy intervened with the foreign minister in their favor
The Tate brothers left Romania directly for Florida on Thursday at five o’clock in the morning on a private plane from Băneasa airport, airport sources told G4Media.ro. Andrew Tate should have been under house arrest in the case concerning the alleged sexual exploitation of 34 women, after the Bucharest Court of Appeal upheld DIICOT’s appeal. The Trump administration has pressured Romania to lift the restrictions of the Tate brothers, the Financial Times reported ten days ago.
It is unclear by the time the news aired whether the restrictions were lifted in the case of the Tate brothers and if so, who lifted them.
At the time, Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu confirmed to G4Media that there was a discussion in which US Special Envoy Richard Grenell mentioned the Tate brothers and his interest in them.
In fact, Richard Grenell reminded the Financial Times of his posts on X, the former Twitter, supporting the Tate brothers, accused in Romania of human trafficking, continuous rape and the establishment of a criminal group. They face a similar series of charges in the UK, and a week ago the first such charges appeared in the US as well.
Hurezeanu stated that there was a discussion in one of the halls of the conference, when the Romanian Foreign Minister initiated a dialogue with Trump’s envoy to find out if Grenell intends to visit Romania.
”<<I’m interested, as you well know, in the fate of the Tate>> brothers, he replied. And so. Then, I asked him for another meeting because I wanted to know more about what he wants to do, what his intentions are in relation to Romania, but this meeting did not take place, Emil Hurezeanu told G4Media, emphasizing that the intervention of Richard Grenell about the Tate brothers left the impression of a continuous interest of Donald Trump’s special envoy.
Background
The Financial Times reports that Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate, who have dual US and British citizenship, ”have become a famous cause in right-wing social media after being arrested in Romania in 2022 and accused of human trafficking, sexual abuse and money laundering, as well as initiating an organized criminal group”. The Tate brothers deny the allegations.
The Tate family case was first brought up by US officials in a phone call with the Romanian government and was then followed up by Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell when he met with the Romanian foreign minister at the Munich Security Conference, according to three people familiar with the matter quoted by the Financial Times.
A fourth person stated that the return of the brothers’ passports had been requested and that they should be allowed to travel while awaiting the completion of legal proceedings.
The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emil Hurezeanu, refused to comment on the exchange of words with Grenell. His spokesman said Hurezeanu initiated the meeting and that the two „have known each other for a long time, as both were ambassadors in Berlin during the first Trump presidency.
The spokesperson did not comment on their specific discussions, but said:
„Romanian courts are independent and operate on the basis of the law, there is a fair trial”, the Financial Times also reports.
Grenell stated that he had „no substantial conversation” with Hurezeanu, who „saw me in the hol” in Munich and „asked for a meeting”:
„I support the Tate brothers, as evidenced by my publicly available tweets”, he added.
This month, Grenell wrote on X that Romania was „the latest example” of how funds paid by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) were „used as a weapon against people and politicians who were not woke (radicals of the left, ed.)”.
The Financial Times also points out that Tristan Tate appealed to supporters to find out if USAID money arrived in Romania to finance investigations by apparently referring to his and Andrew Tate’s cases.
The Tate brothers have millions of followers online in „manosphere” – online platforms aimed at young men who promote male superiority and reject the feminism – that played a role in Trump’s re-election.
Tucker Carlson, a Trump ally and sympathizer of dictator Vladimir Putin and former Fox anchor, has done interviews with both brothers
Tristan Tate boasted X in November of his and his brother’s role in the U.S. election, claiming that „million young people in Europe and the U.S. have a healthy right-wing approach to politics, which they would NOT have had if Andrew Tate had never appeared on their phone screens”.
The UK is also seeking the brothers’ extradition after Bedfordshire Police obtained an arrest warrant as part of an investigation into allegations of rape and human trafficking. A Romanian court decided last year that they can be extradited after there is a final decision in their case in Romania.
DIICOT prosecutors claim that brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate and members of the alleged criminal group formed around them recruited, starting in 2015, 34 women whom they forced to produce pornographic materials that were broadcast for a fee on profile platforms.
”The material benefits thus obtained by the defendants from the sexual exploitation of the victims were valued at over 2,800,000 US dollars and 887,000 token”, say the investigators from the fight against organized crime.
In August 21, 2024, DIICOT reported that brothers Tristan and Andrew Tate were detained for committing the crimes of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, money laundering, influencing statements and favoring the perpetrator.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal returned the file to the prosecutor’s office, for the restoration of the criminal investigation, on December 19, 2024.
I am not sure where you see democracy suspended in general?
Except for Romania’s supreme court annulling the results of the recent election because of massive Russian interference and Ukraine postponing elections due to the ongoing war, I am not aware of any other western government doing such thing.
This aspect highly depends on which country we are talking about, due to different voting mechanisms. The worst offender in this category is clearly the US where the ‘first past the post’ system mathematically results in a two party system.
Here in Germany, we held elections this Sunday on the 23rd. One notable outcome of this election was a near doubling of votes for the left party “Die Linke” compared to last election, which was projected to lose all of their previous seats, which were not many to begin with. This increase was a direct result of conservatives choosing to work with the far-right AFD party before the election. So people actually are voting depending on issues and not just out of habit.
I was referring to general dynamics in western politics. I don’t think Romania will be the only one to do it. There was no due process (did he get to appeal?) for the Georgescu so I wouldn’t really put that much faith in charges against him. I trust Romanian government even less now after they released Tate because Trump asked them to. I’m also sure Georgescu is a shitty guy overall but it’s important no to break the trust in rule of law.
Yeah, it mostly depends on how easy is to get into a „winner gets all” scenario for a political actor. In countries with presidential systems like France, or in countries with two parties systems like US that’s relatively easy, especially with financial backing. Less so in multi-party system which is a saving grace for many European countries for now.
I’m happy that Linke did so well but what does that matter when liberals pretending to be centrists can rule indefinitely? German system favours big coalition outcomes so it’s not like it’s that flexible. And if it’s not flexible then my biggest worry is that stagnation will lead to even bigger knee-jerk reactions from general population later on. Prognosis is even worse if they decide to do austerity or lower taxes for the rich. We’re literally looking at increasingly 1930s circumstances and we’re not able to act due to all of this inertia.
Was there? I am not deeply invested in the matter, so my knowledge of the situation is only superficial. But generally speaking, annulling the result of the first round of a run-off is not equal to cancelling a whole election. The question the supreme court answered was not “Did Georgescu cheat” but “was there so much external interference as to question the results’ validity”. If people disagree with this decision, they have to appeal or sue and make their case, which includes Georgescu and also other candidates or any other citizen for that matter.
As for the charges: Due process is going to court in this case. See above.
On a moral level, I highly contest this decision as well. But looking at real world politics: The power imbalance is just too great to ignore. This is the same situation as when Putin visited Mongolia: Yes, he should have been arrested and handed over to the ICC. But realistically, the repercussions for Mongolia would have been too severe to handle.
These two points somewhat contradict each other. If the majority of the population wants these people in power, why would there be some knee-jerk reaction?
There are rulings by Supreme Court as far as I can tell but that was rather fast, wasn’t it? Due process takes time. Removing candidates and redoing the elections until results are acceptable isn’t that much different from not holding elections at all.
Is it really a choice? How long will people be happy with this kinds of governments? In Poland it took a year for our „centrist” (aka market liberal, social conservative) to have 30% approval rating. All that they have to say is that other guys are even worse and it’s not exactly a great political platform even if we were conditioned to be satisfied by this little.