In an interesting development, the Trump administration has allegedly pressurised Romania to ease travel restrictions on controversial social media personalities, Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate, who are currently facing serious criminal charges in the European country.
Donald Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell, who made headlines in the Pakistani political stratosphere last year when he called for Imran Khan’s release, spoke about Tate brothers with Romanian foreign minister at the recent Munich Security Conference.
The Tate brothers, Andrew and Tristan, gained immense following among right-wing social media for their controversial philosophies that are often termed as “toxic masculinity.” Andrew Tate, a self-described “misogynist” boasts 9.9 million followers on X (formerly Twitter).
In 2022, Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in Romania after being charged with rape, human trafficking and making an organised crime group to sexually exploit women. Furthermore, both brothers are also wanted in the United Kingdom as part of an investigation into rape and human trafficking.
Although the duo has been released from house arrest in Romania, but they are not allowed to leave the country.
It also merits a mention that Andrew Tate openly supported Donald Trump during the 2024 US Presidential race.
Financial Times reported that the Tates’ case was initially brought up by US officials in a telephonic conversation with Romanian counterparts.
Richard Grenell has stated that he had “no substantive conversation” with the Romanian foreign minister; however, he also said: “I support the Tate brothers as evident by my publicly available tweets.”
Grenell also took to X on February 4 to post: “The USAid programs were weaponized against people and politicians who weren’t woke. The Biden team spent US taxpayer money to support left wing programs and candidates around the world. Conservatives around the world were targeted. Romania is the latest example.”
The Trump administration has publicly announced freezing of all foreign aid, particularly the USAID around the world.
