Former boxer and influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were told by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) that they are “not welcome” in Florida.
According to the New York Post, the pair landed at Fort Lauderdale after leaving Romania where there is still a pending legal case against them, alleging they were involved in a sex trafficking operation.
In a press conference held Thursday, DeSantis responded to a question about the Tate brother’s arrival in the Sunshine State and said that he had no involvement in the Tates coming back to the U.S. and that he had only read about it in the media.
“Our Attorney General, James Uthmeier, is looking into what state hooks and jurisdictions we have to deal with this,” DeSantis told reporters.
“Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air, and I don’t know how it came to this, we weren’t involved. We were not notified. I found out through the media that this was something that was happening,” DeSantis said.
In a statement on X, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he had launched a “preliminary inquiry” into Andrew and Tristan Tate.
“Early this morning, I directed my office to work with our state law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into these individuals. Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence against women. If any of these alleged crimes trigger Florida jurisdiction, we will hold them accountable,” Uthmeier wrote on X.
Both Andrew, 38, and Tristan 36, are U.S.-British citizens, and have both denied the charges that have been made against them. They both left Romania on Wednesday where they were awaiting trial. However, previous travel restrictions were lifted, allowing the pair to return to the U.S.
President Donald Trump has denied that he pressured the Romanian government to life the Tate’s travel restrictions.
“I know nothing about that. We’ll check it out. We’ll let you know,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, per the Post.
Trump’s denial that was backed up by the Romanian Prime Minister who also said the Trump administration had not pressured Romanian authorities.
“The United States of America has made no request to Romania regarding the legal status of certain well-known foreign influencers under investigation by Romanian authorities. There were no such requests during the discussion between the Foreign Ministry and Richard Grenell, nor afterward,” Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu wrote in a post on X.
