Trump Administration Pressures Romania To Lift Travel Restrictions On Indicted Influencers Andrew Tate & Brother Tristan

President Donald Trump’s administration urged Romania to lift the travel restrictions placed on influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate. On Dec. 29, 2022, Andrew and Tristan were detained in Romania for human trafficking and rape. They have denied the charges against them.

They spent three months in police detention before they were put under house arrest and prevented from leaving Romania. Last week, U.S. officials initially brought up their case during a phone call with the Romanian government. 

Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, followed up while he met the Romanian foreign minister during the Munich Security Conference. He requested that the Tate brothers have their passports returned and be authorized to travel while they wait for court proceedings to end.

Romanian foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu refused to comment on his exchange with Grenell. 

Hurezeanu’s spokesperson stated the Romanian foreign minister started the meeting and that they had known “each other for a long time” since they both served as ambassadors in Berlin during Trump’s first presidency. 

The spokesperson did not note their specific discussions but mentioned that “Romanian courts are independent and operate based on the law, there is due process.”

Grenell declared that he had “no substantive conversation” with Hurezeanu. “I support the Tate brothers as evident by my publicly available tweets,” Grenell said. 

On Feb. 3, Tristan went to X to write about how he wonders “if any USAID went to Romania to fund any particular lawfare base investigations,” alluding to his and his brother’s cases.

Later on that day, Grenell replied to this post, saying the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) “programs were weaponized against people and politicians who weren’t woke.” 

“The Biden team spent U.S. taxpayer money to support left-wing programs and candidates around the world,” he added. “Conservatives around the world were targeted. Romania is the latest example.”

At the end of January, Andrew’s legal team said a Romanian court had released him from house arrest. 

He is now under judicial control, meaning he is allowed to travel through Romania while adhering to particular legal conditions.