Tate brothers not seeking Trump intervention in UK extradition case, lawyer says

Controversial influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate are not currently seeking help from US President Donald Trump in their legal fight against extradition to the United Kingdom, where they face rape and sex trafficking charges, their lawyer has said.

Joe McBride told the Press Association that the brothers' legal proceedings in Florida should be allowed to continue, adding that presidential intervention was “not necessary” at this stage, dpa reports.

“We're in a court of law. We need to be respectful of the court that we're in, and we believe that we're going to go in there, we're going to get a fair fight and that we're going to win on the merits of our case,” McBride said.

The comments came after reports that Trump would not intervene to prevent the brothers from being handed over to British authorities. McBride had previously suggested that Trump could intervene, saying the president had been elected to fight against what he described as “this kind of nonsense.”

The Tate brothers, who hold both US and British citizenship, were arrested by US marshals in Miami over the weekend and appeared before a federal magistrate on July 20. They are being held in federal custody after British prosecutors brought additional charges against them.

A US district judge is expected to consider in the coming weeks whether the legal conditions for extradition have been met.

“If an injustice happens, well then you know we will go up the appropriate channels,” McBride said.

Andrew Tate, 39, faces seven additional counts of rape, three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation, three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and 19 further charges related to alleged offences involving indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.

Tristan Tate, 38, faces one count of sexual assault, two counts of rape and three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the 38 additional charges, alongside 21 existing charges, relate to alleged offences between July 2010 and August 2017.

Both brothers deny wrongdoing.

By Sabina Mammadli