Tate brothers extradition will not be blocked by Trump, White House says
Karoline Leavitt said Trump has no plans to step into Andrew and Tristan Tate’s U.K. extradition fight after their Miami arrests.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
2 min read
President Donald Trump has no plans to intervene in the Tate brothers extradition case, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday, as Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate await a potential return to the United Kingdom.
Leavitt addressed the issue during a White House press briefing after speculation that Trump might get involved in the brothers’ legal fight. According to TMZ, she said the president is not stepping in while the brothers face extradition following their arrests in Florida on charges of rape, sex trafficking and pornography.
The brothers have repeatedly denied all allegations.
Will Trump stop the Tate brothers extradition?
Leavitt’s answer from the White House was no: Trump has no plans to interfere with the process, according to her briefing remarks reported by TMZ.
The brothers’ lawyer, Joseph McBride, pushed back on the finality of that statement. McBride told TMZ that Leavitt is “great,” but said she is not the president or the secretary of state. He argued there can be no extradition without the secretary of state’s signature, and said that until such a signature exists, the rest is commentary.
In this case, extradition refers to the U.K. effort to have the brothers sent from the United States to Britain. TMZ reported that U.S. Marshals arrested Andrew and Tristan Tate in Miami on Saturday afternoon while executing a U.K. extradition warrant.
What happened in Miami?
TMZ reported that the brothers were taken into custody in Miami after U.S. Marshals acted on the warrant seeking their return to the U.K. Video published by TMZ showed Andrew and Tristan Tate being taken into custody.
The arrests put the brothers back in an international legal spotlight. Their attorney has said they will fight extradition, although he previously told TMZ that defeating such a request is difficult.
McBride said he intends to argue that special circumstances should keep the brothers from being sent to the U.K. He also said they are not flight risks, citing what he described as their full compliance with court requirements during the past three years.
According to McBride, Andrew and Tristan Tate have not missed a court date in either their Romanian human trafficking case or a Palm Beach defamation case.
The White House position, as stated by Leavitt, leaves that fight in the legal lane for now. McBride’s response makes clear the defense is still focused on the formal steps required before any extradition can happen.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.