17 February 2025 , 22:06
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President Trump’s administration has urged the Romanian government to remove travel restrictions on Andrew Tate, according to reports.
The self-proclaimed misogynist is facing allegations of trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering, alongside his brother Tristan.
The siblings, who are dual UK and US citizens and vocal supporters of Trump, deny any wrongdoing.
Andrew, 38, and Tristan, 36, were released from house arrest by a Romanian court last month pending the outcome of the investigation.
However, they remain under judicial control and can travel within Romania but not leave the country.
Their case has now been raised by US officials in a phone call with the Romanian government last week, according to the Financial Times.
Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, then reportedly pressed the matter in a meeting with Emil Hurezeanu, the Romanian foreign minister, at the Munich Security Conference.
The Trump administration is believed to have requested that the brothers’ passports are returned, allowing them to travel while the investigations against them continue.
Hurezeanu declined to comment on his meeting with Grenell.
A spokesperson for the foreign minister said that Hurezeanu had initiated the meeting, noting that they had “known each other for a long time”.
Both served as ambassadors to Germany during Trump’s first term as president.
“Romanian courts are independent and operate based on the law — there is due process,” the spokesperson added, declining to comment on the details of their conversation.
Grenell said he had “no substantive conversation” with Hurezeanu, but added: “I support the Tate brothers, as evident by my publicly available tweets.”
Romania has faced criticism from the Trump administration in recent days with JD Vance singling it out during his speech in Munich last week.
The vice-president criticised the decision to annul Romania’s presidential election in December over concerns of Russian interference.