"The reality is Florida is not a place where you are welcome with that type of conduct up in the air," DeSantis said when asked about the brothers' expected arrival during his press conference in Bradford County. "I don't know how it came to this. We were not involved. We were not notified. I found out through the media that this was something that was happening."
The 38-year-old and his 36-year-old brother, who are both facing charges in Romania including human trafficking and sex with a minor, landed in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday around 11 a.m. after Romania lifted the brothers' travel restrictions. The dual U.S.-British citizens departed the country via private jet and are expected to return to Romania in March for the ongoing criminal proceedings.Governor Ron DeSantis says the Tate brothers aren’t welcome in the state, and his attorney general is exploring legal options:
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 27, 2025
“Florida is not a place where you're welcome with that type of conduct." pic.twitter.com/WqtzDTbeT7
The governor said his former chief of state and newly appointed Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who replaced Ashley Moody, is exploring whether the state has any jurisdiction "to be able to deal with this." DeSantis held a press conference on Thursday with Florida State Guard Director Mark Thieme at the Camp Blanding Joint Operations Training Center in Starke.
"Clearly, the federal government has jurisdiction whether they want to rebuff his entry into the United States, and I have confidence that whether it's Pam Bondi or Kristi Noem that they will be looking at that," DeSantis added.
Andrew Tate, known for promoting misogynistic views on his podcast, including that women belong at home and are a man's property, was arrested with his brother in December 2022 near Bucharest on allegations that the pair ran a criminal enterprise to sexually exploit women.
The brothers have denied all of the allegations and sued two of their accusers in Palm Beach County court.
"We've yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives ever, we have no criminal record anywhere on the planet ever, our case was dismissed on the 19th of December in Romania under the Biden administration, and our prosecutor recently decided because we have no active indictment in court to let us go and return," Andrew Tate told reporters after disembarking from the flight on Thursday. "This is a democratic society, it's supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, as my brother and I are."
Following reports that U.S. officials from the Trump administration pushed the Romania government to ease the brothers' travel restrictions, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the U.S. did not pressure the government to allow them to leave the country. However, Trump's special envoy Richard Grenell did discuss the matter with the country's foreign minister, according to reports.
