Manosphere influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, are speaking out via their lawyer following their most recent arrest for alleged sex trafficking.
“Days ago, Andrew and Tristan Tate exercised their constitutional rights by visiting the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. They held meetings about their UK party, the midterms, and 2028. They also met with friends and members of Congress,” the brothers’ attorney, Joe McBride, claimed via a written statement shared with Us Weekly on Sunday, July 19, before claiming that the so-called men’s rights advocates are currently being held as “political prisoners” on “American soil” in a “5×12 cell” in “solitary confinement.”
“Make no mistake about it: they are being punished for daring to exercise their First Amendment Rights,” the legal representative’s statement continued. (The brothers both face several counts of rape, sexual assault and arranging or facilitating sex trafficking in addition to 21 previous charges related to sexual violence and sex trafficking. They have not been charged with anything pertaining to free speech.)
“They are also being hunted by a despotic UK Government that wants to bury them in a foreign prison for the rest of their lives,” McBride also claimed in his written statement. “We met with them today. They are dressed in orange jumpsuits like Al Qaeda terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. Two innocent men, charged with nothing in America, dressed like enemy combatants.”
The controversial influencer and his sibling were both arrested in Miami on Saturday, July 19, after the U.K. government filed new rape and sex trafficking charges against them.
“We have decided to prosecute Andrew and Tristan Tate for further offenses including rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and offenses relating to indecent images of a child,” Malcolm McHaffie, head of the U.K. Special Crime Division at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), announced at the time. “These charging decisions followed receipt of a further file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police and bring the total number of alleged victims in this case to seven.”
The pair were apprehended by U.S. Marshals ahead of a scheduled bareknuckle boxing event they were expected to host. Andrew now faces “seven further counts of rape, three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation, three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm,” per the CPS. He has also been cited for 19 additional alleged offenses involving indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.
His brother Tristan, meanwhile, faces additional charges for one count of sexual assault, two counts of rape and three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Per the Crown Prosecution Service, prosecutors chose to move forward with 21 previous charges in addition to fresh counts related to four additional alleged victims. These additional incidents allegedly occurred between July 2010 and August 2017 in London. The Tates are due to appear in a federal court early next week to begin extradition proceedings to the U.K., per the Associated Press.
In his written statement, the brothers’ lawyer called the Florida AG James Uthmeier a “low-testosterone deep state asset who hates free speech” and a “sad joke of a man who can’t get over the fact that we wiped the floor with him last year” — a continuation of the brothers’ public back-and-forth with the attorney general after Uthmeir announced his office would be launching an investigation into the brothers’ alleged misconduct in last year.
“This is un-American and unconscionable,” McBride added. “Love Andrew and Tristan or hate them. It does not matter. When American citizens can be caged for their politics, every single one of you is next.
Mark my words, today it is Andrew and Tristan.”
McBride then evoked President Donald Trump, who has continued to lie about the 2020 presidential election results, in which he lost to Democratic nominee and then-former Vice President Joe Biden, claiming the election was “stolen” or “rigged” despite failing to provide any evidence to support his claims.
“Tomorrow it will be Trump. Then it will be you,” he claimed. “We have court first thing tomorrow. Let your voices be heard. Speak out. Now.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
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