Law&Crime Sidebar - Andrew Tate Slams Florida Arrest as 'Kidnapping'

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

Self-described misogynistic social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate find themselves in federal custody in Miami, Florida, facing a massive wave of dozens of new charges, including rape, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation, brought by authorities in the UK. As prosecutors push for the brothers to be extradited across the Atlantic, their legal team is pushing back against what they call an egregious abuse of authority. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber has all the details.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:For a limited time, get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping and free treats for life, when you head to http://smalls.com/SIDEBAR HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Social media influencers, Andrew and Tristan Tate, are back in the headlines, back in the U.S., and back in Cuffs. The pair were arrested over the weekend in Miami as part of criminal investigations that have now crisscrossed the globe. Prosecutors in the U.K. are asking for the Tate's stopover in the U.S. to be a quick one as they call for extradition, so the brothers can now face dozens of charges. We have details of what happened in a federal courtroom today. Plus, I'm going to be speaking with a celebrity criminal defense attorney and, I am bringing on a member of the U.S. Marshal Service who can give us an inside peak as to what the arrest of Andrew and Tristan Tate look like. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Now, it has been a little bit since we talked about Andrew and Tristan Tate, the self-described misogynistic social media influencers who currently face criminal charges in more than one country. So right now, as I'm recording this, the brothers are in federal custody. in Miami, Florida. They're going to await a judge's decision on whether they're going to be shipped back to the UK to face sex crimes charges. So you have 39-year-old Andrew and 38-year-old Tristan Tate, they're dual citizens in the U.S. and the U.S. and the U.S. and the U.K., but for the past couple of years, the two have been in and out of Romanian jail cells. The two had moved to Romania after criticizing the lack of freedoms in other countries online. In late 2022, Andrew and Tristan were arrested, along with two women, they were accused of luring women into sexual exploitation and things like

sex work websites with promises of romantic relationships or that the Tate brothers would help them advance their influencer careers. Andrew Tate has stated repeatedly that there's zero evidence against him, that there's some sort of underlying conspiracy at work. They spent time locked up in jail as well as on house arrest before our court lifted travel restrictions, gave them permission last year to leave the country, fly to Florida on a private jet before returning to Romania. And the case in Romania is still ongoing, but has hit a few procedural hurdles, according to local reporting. But at the same time that they were facing accusations in Bucharest, multiple women in the UK also brought claims against the Tate's. And now these men are facing dozens of charges there.

So when they landed in Miami on Saturday, this time they were taken into custody. on a sealed warrant as part of an extradition request. According to the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK, Andrew and Tristan are being charged in connection with four more alleged victims and incidents that reportedly occurred between 2010 and 2017. So on top of this laundry list of charges that they were already facing, according to reporting from the Guardian, they now face dozens more.

The CPS has charged Andrew with seven more counts of rape, three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation, three counts of assault with actual bodily harm, and 19 additional charges for offenses relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography. So in all, per the BBC, Andrew now faces a total of 42 charges in the UK. Tristan faces 17. The head of the CPS Special Crimes Division, this is Malcolm McCaffee, said 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. Now, attorneys for the Tates have adamantly denied any wrongdoing. Lawyer Joseph McBride

did not mince words in a lengthy statement saying in part, the world knows Andrew and Tristan Tate are innocent. Their enemies know it best of all. That is exactly why they have been attacked. He continued to understand what Britain just did. There was a longstanding agreement between the UK and Romanian governments that the UK would not seek extradition while the Romanian proceedings are pending. Those proceedings are ongoing right now. That agreement exists because no nation gets to trample the judicial sovereignty of another for political convenience. The UK shredded its own word the moment it became useful to shred it. That is who they are. This extradition demand has one purpose to kidnap Andrew and Tristan through paperwork before an American jury exposes the truth

to the entire world. We are confident that once a competent judge, judge sees the facts and once the Department of Justice confronts this egregious abuse of its own authority, Andrew and Tristan Tate will walk free. America does not do Britain's political dirty work, not here, never. McBride claimed in his statement that the arrests were greenlighted by a low-level functionary at the DOJ, but the department reportedly told the Associated Press that the arrests were approved by leadership of its criminal division. Matt Jury, who we've had on this program before, a lawyer representing four alleged British victims, had this to say, put the guardian, quote, Tate is now facing the real prospect of extradition to the UK after years of public campaigning

by the four British women I represent. They have spent years fighting for action to be taken, and I now urge the authorities to ensure this case proceeds as quickly as possible. Andrew and Tristan Tate are accused of some of the most serious offenses, including multiple counts of rape and human trafficking. It is time they face justice. The BBC has laid out the path that these kinds of requests take, right? The Crown Prosecution Office puts together a request. It gets certified by a judge. The final request is sent over to the home office, which then forwards it on to the U.S. State Department. It's then considered by a court here in the U.S. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio apparently would have the final say so on extradition. And there have been rumors in the past that

the Tates, who have both shown support for President Donald Trump could see his intervention in their legal cases. But the president has previously said he doesn't know anything about the Tate's cases. This is according to reporting by Time magazine. However, I will tell you, the outlet reports that Donald Trump Jr. was previously quoted saying the brother's detention in Romania was, quote, absolute insanity. Now, a barrister lawyer specializing in extradition law, Ben Keith, told the times in the UK that if the Tates decide to fight the extradition application, the case could be tied up in the British legal system for months.

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Experts are also raving about it. Forbes ranked smalls the best overall cat food. Buzzfeed reviewers reported that their cats went ballistic for this stuff. Your cat's health starts with what they eat. Try smalls. Get 60% off of your first order plus free shipping and treats for life when you go to smalls. dot com slash sidebar. So a lot to get to, and we have the hearing that happened today, too, which I'll get into. But first, two different perspectives on this. First, I want to bring in criminal

defense attorney, Bradford Cohen, acclaimed criminal defense attorney, really deals with high profile cases, high profile celebrities. I wanted his take on what we should be thinking here. Take a look. So Bradford, good to see you. Thank you so much for taking the time. This is a big development. This is a big development. They get arrested while they're in Miami. They're now hit with the additional charges on top of all the other charges that were they were facing they have the romanic case there's a potential investigation uh in florida just overall perception about what happened over the week overall perception is you know essentially so they were in florida they get arrested on this extradition uh they still have that pending case in romania and that's what's going to be so

interesting about this extradition is that there was an alleged agreement with the uk for priority And we often do this with different states that might have different cases on individuals. So that's kind of where they are right now. They have these pending cases in Romania. They have pending cases in England. This extradition is for the case in England that was going to be essentially stayed until the Romanian cases were resolved. Why would they want to fight extradition? What is the concern about going back to the UK?

is it that if they go back to the UK, they may get, I'm not particularly, I don't particularly know how the issue of bond works there, but could they be concerned that if they go there, they might not make bond and be detained and be behind bars as they await trial there? Is it let's fight it as much as we can here in the United States? But I also don't know how it works. If they're fighting extradition here, do they remain detained here? So let's break down.

You said a lot there. So let me break it down a little bit. Okay. So, yes, I think they fight extradition because there was number one. There was this alleged longstanding agreement with UK that they would not seek extradition while Romania was pending. And I think someone at maybe DOJ or someone else decided to submit this warrant to the magistrate judge. The magistrate judge signed off on it. That's how a warrant gets issued. That's how extradition starts. Now, that's phase one. phase two of why they would fight extradition. Well, number one is because of that agreement. And then number two is because they would be remaining in custody, most likely, on the transfer to England. And they've already experienced this in Romania, right?

They were in custody for like eight months or a year with charges not filed. Then they were filed. And some were dropped. Some were pending. They seized all their items. I mean, the Romanian thing was a little bit crazy in terms of how. it took place and how they weren't allowed to go anywhere. So they obviously are in fear, I would imagine, of staying in custody.

Now, how does it work in extradition in the United States? Generally, generally, you're not entitled to bond in terms of the extradition and how that works is the 384 18 USC 3184 kind of controls it, right? And we look at the bond determination in Are they a flight risk? Are they harmed the society? They're not entitled to a bond. And most likely in cases like this, individuals are not awarded a bond. Now, why is their case different? A couple of things. Number one is they've been out. Nothing has happened. Society has been safe. Number two is their well-known personalities. If they wanted to run, they could have run. They

could have gone to Vietnam. They could have gone to different countries that have zero extradition with anyone, Romania, America, England. They could have gone to those countries. They did not. So the flight risk argument, I think, is a little weak. And then that third thing, which is really the most important to me, is that UK had an agreement that there was a priority for Romania. And the argument essentially would be is that this was kind of a rogue actor that submitted a warrant and it was signed by a magistrate and that magistrate, you know, had no idea about any kind of agreement with the UK about the Romanian incident. So they have a multitude of things to address what it's going to come down to is essentially the extradition hearing.

And then also if the UK is willing to give them a kind of bond or some sort of release from the extradition itself and let them go to England on their own accord. Do you think the White House is going to get involved? Why do I say that? So Mr. McBrillard tried told reporters Monday, I believe that Marco Rubio and the rest of the Trump administration are not fans of communism. They're not fans of prosecuting people for free speech. So I would just think as a matter of principle, based on the reasons why they were elected, that they would not want to see two free citizens go to a country where they're going to be thrown in jail for political reasons. So I think that's interesting. I don't know if the White House gets involved or if they

necessarily have to get involved. I think there's going to be email, I think there's going to be testimony about the U.K. agreeing to forego any extradition until the Romanian case is over. So I don't know if it's going to be necessary, but I also think there's going to be some sort of fairness argument, right? If the U.K. did agree, if the U.K. did agree to hold off until Romania was done, which is not unusual. A lot of countries, a lot of states do this. If you look at the little Dirk case, he's got a case pending in Chicago. has got a case pending in California. They have to give some sort of priority as to who gets him first.

So there is some case law and some good, some good history on different countries giving priority to those states. I don't, those countries, I don't think that they're going to need to get involved. I think it's going to be a DOJ issue and it's going to be whether or not this warrant was issued by error, essentially, where they didn't. know that the UK had this agreement and someone from DOJ is like, wait a minute, they have a warrant out. Let's just submit it to a magistrate, which is unusual, but does happen. So I don't think the White House necessarily is going to have to get involved. But I also think that these are

unusual circumstances and it's an unusual case. So it wouldn't shock me if, you know, the Secretary of State got involved in this type of case. I know the law is different. I know charge charges are different. But what they're facing in the UK, I want your impression on. So again, just to reiterate, Andrew Tate is reportedly facing 42 charges. So rape, human trafficking, indecent images of a child and assault. Tristan Tate, 17 charges, right, sexual assault, rape, trafficking. You're looking at about, what, 59 charges between them. We already know that they were facing rape and human trafficking charges in the UK from allegations from 20, 12 to 2015, these appear to be about investigation regarding seven women that took place or allegedly

took place in the east of England between 2010 and 2017. They're also facing a civil lawsuit in the UK from four women who have claimed that they were sexually assaulted by them. So just talk to me about the gravity of these charges and how a defense attorney approaches something. So the charges are very serious, obviously. The allegations are very serious. What the allegations in my opinion do not show is these the lawsuits that have been pending and I think there was a lawsuit in the United States that was pending. I don't know if it was dismissed. A lot of these things have discovery on them and there has been some movement in terms of that the the stories weren't exactly how these young ladies were saying these stories were. So how does the defense attorney

attack these things is exactly how I'm saying it. You know, you ask about. the incidents, you see what the evidence is, you see what kind of evidence there is pending. If there is extrinsic evidence, the witnesses that allegedly were there, or allegedly, as these individuals told, soon thereafter, or did not tell soon thereafter. Why did it take from 2010 to now for these allegations to come out? Why is there a lapse in time? All these different things are questioned and we try to find out the answers to these things. You know, these, the allegations are always horrible. The, you know, the Sean Combs case, those allegations were horrible. And then he ended up getting a not guilty on the majority of those of those charges.

So, you know, everyone is, in America, at least, everyone is presumed innocent until, you know, and after a trial has commenced. So you have that cloak of innocence. throughout the trial and then until a jury finds whether or not you are guilty or not guilty. So when I look at these cases, the allegations in all cases, you know, there's never good allegations in cases. They're always bad. Sexual allegations are some of the worst because it goes to your reputation. It goes to your being as opposed to, you know, if it's a grand theft case, if it's something else of those nature, you know, when we think of sexual, uh, assault cases, you know, you start to think, is it a depraved mind that, you know, it's like a murder

case. And how do we defend a murder case? The exact same way. You know, we hold the prosecutor to their burden and we make them prove their case. And if we have a defense to it, if we have witnesses that were there that say something to the opposite of what was going on, then we put them on. It's like anything. And whenever I get a case, everyone, he says, oh, this guy's cooked or this guy's cooked. You know, I've had gun cases with DNA and fingerprints, and, you know, the gun was found in the glove compartment of the car. He was driving it.

And I still get a not guilty. So I don't know all of the facts and circumstances of the case. Right. And when we do, we'll find out what the defense is going to be. Would you be concerned about their past comments online in interviews that it could play a role in this case? I think at the very least, even if you're talking about here in the United States, an issue of jury selection how you can find a fair and impartial jury because it's the difference between them and other people who are ultimately arrested and charged sometimes it comes out of nowhere

sometimes they're like i don't know like i didn't know like i didn't know anything about bill cosby right like i wasn't in circles for when he but you like jello people were like you know some people yeah no some people were like oh my gosh i knew him you know like this is not a surprise other people like We're like, what? America's dad? Where'd that come from? Andrew and Tristan Tate, now again, they're innocent and less proven guilty, but I have to ask, like, their commentary, I think I wonder if that could be a complication for them, either A, trying to get a fair and impartial jury. Again, I don't know all the standards in the UK and how the law works, but also I just imagine, I wonder if that could be used as evidence.

Yeah, so it always causes me concern when I'm representing someone of note because they're always going to be statements or they're always going to be statements or they're always. are always going to be something on the internet, especially now, even with people not of note. You know, like, but when I, when I represent individuals, high profile individuals, which I've had many, you know, it worries me about, you know, what they've said. And here's what worries me more sometimes is how the prosecutors use it, how they twist it to use it. That happens a lot, too. Look at the rap lyrics that are being used these days. And I've had cases where, state attorneys or federal U.S. attorneys have manipulated the words to kind of fit their narrative

or, you know, change them completely. So it's the same thing with rap lyrics. You know, what does that worry me that the guy's talking about, hey, I carry a 45 and I slide the block. Of course it worries me because it's something that I know I have to address. So it's going to come down to is what they would use and how they would use it. And I think that should be really looked at, at least in the United States, I've always been a proponent for really narrowing the scope of rap lyrics, narrowing the scope of what an individual says, because we are a country in and we are a country of freedom of speech, narrowing it so that it is tailored to the actual case. An individual saying, hey, I don't like, you know, women that are promiscuous. And then,

you know, they're in a sexual case and all of a sudden the prosecutor wants to bring that statement in for just kind of, they'll say it's for something else, but we know it's for character evidence. You know, it really shouldn't be allowed. So yes, does it worry me? Yes. Does it concern me? Yes. It just depends on what the statement is and how they would bring it in. I want to ask you one more point about this. So it's also being reported per CNN that Florida is investigating the brothers, that there's an act of criminal investigation. And Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer posted on X after it was announced the brothers were arrested, how the turntables, dot, dot, dot.

How is this affecting any potential Florida case or investigation? First, I don't even understand what the tweet was, how the turn tables. I read that myself and I was like, I think he met something else. I thought it was like how the tables have turned, I guess. How the tables turned. I don't know what he meant by that. obviously, you know, listen, if there's an active investigation, you deal with an active investigation. I don't take threats very well.

I don't take, you know, lawyers send me letters all the time about their clients and things of that nature. I really don't care about letters. I don't care about calls. I don't care about tweets. Like you have a case, bring the case. You don't have a case. Then don't bring the case and don't tweet about it. So I'm a guy who likes to punch people in the face and not tell them.

You're like, hey, by the way, if you keep doing that, I'm going to. going to punch you in the face. Like, just do it. Like, either punch them in the face or don't. So to me, it's one of those things that the threats mean nothing to me. The actions mean more than the threats. And if you have something, then bring it. So as we're talking, my producer, Savannah, who's amazing, just goes, it's a joke from the office. So Michael Scott says, oh, how the turn table is. So I guess he's making a joke. I'm not a, I'm not, you know, I'm not as hip as James is for the Attorney General Florida. He's way hipper.

He's way hipper than I am. I didn't understand it. I read it and like maybe it's because I'm so old. I didn't understand it. But it's good to put it in context. What am I supposed to say? I didn't know it either. But still, like I said,

I don't even make jokes about like it's when you bring a case against somebody or you're trying a case against someone, it's never a joking thing. So I've had prosecutors tell me, oh, this is going to be a fun trial and it'll be good practice for me. Like, you know, you got someone's life in your hands and it's not practice. It's not a fun trial. It's something that I take extremely seriously.

I think a lot of my employees take it extremely seriously. And, you know, like I said, it's nothing to be joked about. So if you have something, bring the case. If you don't, you don't. All right. Let's see where it goes. Bradford Cohen. Always the best.

Okay, so now I want to bring on Emily Maddox. So Emily is a member of the United States Marshal Service, Regional Affairs, Northern Europe, Office of International Operations. And she is going to tell us right now what the arrest of Andrew and Tristan Tate look like. How did this happen? What did we not see from all the footage that came down on social media? Here's Emily. Emily, thank you so much for taking the time. So first of all, just so our viewers and listeners,

know, you were, or you or you know someone that was a part of the actual arrest of the Tate Brothers, correct? Yeah, that's correct. And in what capacity? Right. So I work for the United States Marshal Service, and our agency was responsible for the conducting of the arrest. Marshals assigned to the Southern District of Florida and Miami were the ones who affected

the arrest on Saturday. Can you give us background information about how that happened and when it happened and the process by which it happened? Sure. So the United States has an extradition treaty with the United Kingdom. And pursuant to that treaty, there was an extradition request made by authorities in the United Kingdom. That request was then routed through Department of Justice, and once it was deemed, once the request was approved, then it was referred to the Southern District of Florida, and a warrant was issued by a federal judge in Miami. Once that warrant was issued, then it was assigned to the United States Marshal Service to actually go out

and effectuate the arrest in that case. Why at that time, right as they were going to this fighting event, is there strategy there? Is there a specific reason why it happened at that moment? The reason, as far as what I can share, is that that moment was publicly, information was publicly available that the Tate brothers were going to attend that event.

And so the decision was made to do it at that time. Is there a concern by them as subjects high, you know, high profile, wealthy? Any, is that factor into the apprehension? Sure, yeah, that always is going to factor in as well as many other details. Our priority is always going to be to affect an arrest as safely. as possible. And so that's our top priority, in this case, as in others.

So we saw video on social media, flooded social media, all these videos of them being detained. What did we not see? What was happening that wasn't captured by the body cam in terms of how they were arrested, how they were processed, what questions they were asked, how they were checked? What's happening that we don't see? So the big part that you don't see is that legal process that I explained before, the process of actually getting to the point of a warrant being issued. But in this case, the arrest was very quick.

It was, there really were no issues there. And so there really isn't a lot that's happening there that you don't see. How many different units are assigned to an arrest like that? How many different personnel? Right. So it depends on the arrest, and I don't have the number specifically that day, but the Marshal Service task forces, like the one in South Florida, are comprised of multiple law enforcement agencies from the area that would include,

like Miami Police Department, as well as other federal, state and local agencies that comprise the task force members. And so several of them would have been present that day. Gotcha. Look, I mentioned this before, and it seems like it's going to be a big legal issue, fight of extradition. There is this treaty, right? There is this agreement between the UK and Romania,

that if there's an ongoing Romanian proceeding, that the UK can't, you know, issue the, the warrant or try to get the extradition of the Tate brothers until the Romanian proceedings conclude. I don't know how much the U.S. Marshal Service gets involved in this, but is there a time when it comes and says, we can't do this because of Romania? Or did that come up at all because of Romania or Romanian authorities are reaching on saying, we can't do this. UK, I'm sorry, but there's a problem here. There's a conflict. Right. I can't speak to that Specifically, the authority that the United States Marshal Service was acting on was the federal

arrest warrant issued by a judge in the Southern District of Florida. So that is where the Marshal Service has our authority, just like in any other case where an arrest warrant is issued. The legal issues behind that are not really something that we get involved in. Gotcha. Was there anything about their arrest, them being detained? Did they say or do anything that you can tell us that was of note? No, my understanding, even though I wasn't there unseen, is that they were cooperative

and that the arrest was conducted without any sort of incident or issues at all. No weapons on them or anything like that? No. Okay. Emily, thanks so much for taking the time. I think this is really interesting, and I wanted your perspective on what we should be thinking about as these kinds of arrests happen, and particularly this one. Sure. Thank you. Happy to be here. Okay. So like I said, there was a hearing today, very, very brief. It was in front of U.S. magistrate judge Lauren Lewis basically set another hearing for next Monday.

Their attorney said they're going to fight extradition. The brothers came into court today. They were wearing tan jail uniforms, handcuffs. This is all per reporting from the Associations. press. And look, this is the start of what could be a very interesting and possibly complicated extradition fight. The judge will have to determine whether or not they meet the conditions of extradition, whether or not, as we talked about, the whole Romania aspect of it will complicate it. So we'll see which way this goes. And we'll keep a very careful eye on what happens between now and next Monday. And of course, what happens next Monday. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast.

You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock. If you want to follow me, X Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.