TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — When Andrew and Tristan Tate touched down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last week, the two social media figures — who had been charged with human trafficking in Romania — found some support in right-wing circles for their return home.
But one of their most prominent critics has been a conservative: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who immediately said the brothers were not welcome in the state. State Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is the governor’s former chief of staff and close political adviser, said the state would open a criminal investigation into the men, although he did not outline specific allegations.
Andrew Tate announced Thursday that he was leaving Florida — saying he’d be back “in a few years” — which likely ends any potential investigation. (His brother also posted a picture from a plane.) But the political impact on DeSantis’ future might last longer.
DeSantis’ decision to antagonize some on the right by going hard after the Tate brothers puts him at odds with elements of the MAGA movement — including some allies of the president — who are still upset with him for challenging Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
Trump himself has avoided talking about the return of the Tate brothers or the Florida investigation into them, but the issue has put DeSantis and Uthmeier at the center of a fight on the political right over whether the men, who hold dual U.S.-British citizenship, were being unfairly targeted since there have not been any criminal allegations against them in Florida, or if the Florida effort was squarely in line with conservative values to investigate two men accused of abusing women and girls.
The White House did not return a request seeking comment, but a Trump adviser brushed off the Tate issue, suggesting the investigation was just DeSantis’ attempt to remain politically “relevant” after his failed presidential run against Trump.
The Trump orbit in the past has expressed support for the Tate brothers.
Andrew Tate and Donald Trump Jr. appeared in a discussion on X last summer focused on Hunter Biden’s legal problems.
Trump Jr. called Tate “buddy,” and Tate called him “friend.” During the event, Trump Jr. said that Tate was being unfairly attacked.
“You have people attacking you as far as I’m concerned. … They just want to silence you,” he said. “You have entered the arena by speaking out.”
Alina Habba, a counselor to the president, said in January during an interview with Andrew Tate that she was a “big fan.”
“I think your anger is the same that President Trump has for our country. And the time is now for us to stop being wimps,” she said to Tate. “I also have to say that I sympathize with you because I think you go through a lot of the same ‘show me the person, I’ll find the crime’ that President Trump has gone through.”
Beyond the legal fight, the issue brought on renewed layers of political intrigue since the Tates arrived in Florida.
Ric Grenell, the Trump administration’s presidential envoy for special missions, reposted an X post from Andrew Tate that accused DeSantis of attacking him because he “was worried” that Tate would support Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., in the Florida 2026 gubernatorial race. DeSantis has a notoriously icy relationship with Donalds, who has been endorsed by Trump, while his wife, Casey DeSantis, is considering her own run for governor against Donalds.
“Interestingly, I had no interest in Florida politics until I learnt how communist the DeSantis admin is,” Tate said in the post elevated by Grenell. “The game is on.”
Over the past week, DeSantis supporters have pressured Donalds to comment on the Tate issue. On Wednesday, he did, siding with DeSantis’ position and against the Tates.
“I think those allegations have to be fully investigated, and that we go from there,” Donalds told CBC News. “The key thing is, we don’t tolerate the trafficking of women, or frankly, the abuse of women. We do not tolerate that.”
“If the attorney general finds cause under Florida law to investigate that, then I wish him the best, and I support whatever he’s going to do on the matter,” he added.
The Tate brothers, both former kickboxers, rose to fame as leaders of the “manosphere” movement, a misogynistic culture that elevates men and works to push back against feminism. They have built significant wealth and an intense international following advocating for those positions.
In 2017, Andrew Tate tweeted that women should “bare some responsibility” for being sexually assaulted.
The office of Uthmeier, the Desantis-appointed state attorney general, said it has executed search warrants against the brothers and was pushing forward with its investigation.
“These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying on women around the world, many of these victims coming forward, some of them minors,” Uthmeier said Wednesday. “People can spin or defend however they want, but in Florida this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious.”
Uthmeier’s office did not return a request for comment on the status of the investigation now that Andrew Tate has said he left the state.
Andrew Tate, the more prominent of the brothers, used his X account, which has 10.7 million followers, and friendly podcasts to aggressively push back against the Florida investigation, framing himself as being unfairly targeted.
In one post, Tate likened DeSantis and Uthmeier to Lavrentiy Beria, one of the secret police chiefs of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
In an interview Wednesday with right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, Andrew Tate said that he has had “all his phones and laptops seized,” an assertion that the Florida attorney general’s office has not confirmed.
Last week, Joseph McBride, the brothers’ U.S.-based attorney, said the two men planned to return to Romania at the end of March to meet with prosecutors, with plans to eventually come back to the U.S.
“They feel secure in America for several reasons, the primary one being that Donald Trump is the President,” McBride said in a statement. “As a result, they are excited to call America their home again.”
Andrew Tate did not say where they were heading in his X post, and McBride did not immediately return a request for comment.
It remains unclear how or why Romania relaxed travel restrictions imposed on the Tate brothers after their arrest in 2022. Romania officials have denied any outside influence, including from the Trump administration, even as they have offered no explanation.
“I have no knowledge of any pressure,” Justice Minister Radu Marinescu told Public Record. “Authorities from other states have made no official request.”
