An Arizona congresswoman wants Congress to subpoena the president's youngest son.
Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari said the House Oversight Committee should investigate how Barron Trump and other members of Trump's inner circle may have influenced the administration's treatment of Andrew and Tristan Tate, two right-wing influencers accused of crimes against women.
The Tate brothers, who are celebrities in the "manosphere" online community, face charges of rape, assault, luring women into sexual exploitation and child pornography offenses in Romania and the United Kingdom. In the most recent U.K. charges, unveiled in July, three women accused the brothers of choking them until they passed out and then raping them.
U.S. and Romanian authorities agreed
to allow the brothers to fly back to Miami, after Trump's envoy reportedly raised the issue with the Romanian foreign minister.
Ansari has accused the administration of giving the Tates "preferential treatment."
"The Committee must investigate whether back-channel communications between the Tate brothers, presidential advisors, and members of the First Family such as Barron Trump influenced official actions or administration policy regarding criminal prosecution and investigation of the brothers or international law enforcement cooperation," she wrote in a July 23 letter.
Her letter, addressed to the Republican chair of the Oversight Committee, came days after another Arizona member of Congress publicly defended the Tates.
Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Arizona, argued the Trump administration should protect the brothers from facing charges in other countries and deny an extradition request from the U.K.
"No American court has charged them with a crime despite years of false alarms and innuendos," Hamadeh wrote July 20 on social media. "The US government should either charge them with a crime or protect them from reckless court proceedings in the UK and Romania."
Extradition does not mean the Tate brothers are guilty. Rather, it would allow U.K. authorities to adjudicate the claims in a court of law.
The brothers have denied the allegations. The White House did not return a request for comment.
Ansari alleges connection between Barron Trump and Tate brothers
Ansari, a first-term Democrat from Arizona who sits on the House Oversight Committee, isn't definitively claiming that Trump's advisers, Barron Trump, or other members of the Trump family had any sway on the Tates' case.
She argued in her letter to the Oversight Committee chair that recent reporting raises "extremely grave national security, diplomatic, and ethical concerns" about whether those in the president's orbit leveraged their influence to shield the brothers from allegations.
The Tate brothers became famous for coaching young men to develop an "alpha male" mindset. They were banned from traveling outside Romania in late 2022 when they were arrested on allegations including human trafficking and money laundering. U.K. prosecutors accused them of other sexual abuse charges.
A powerful voice in the online "manosphere," Andrew Tate has argued women shouldn't be able to vote, can't drive, and are a man's property in a marriage. He has amassed an internet following of millions of people, many of them young men. He describes himself as a misogynist.
One of the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr., called the Tates' detention in Romania “absolute insanity.” Barron Trump reportedly admires Andrew Tate, spoke with him via Zoom, and dismissed the legal proceedings against him as politically motivated.
Ansari accused the Trump administration of "potential political interference and improper conduct" and called on the committee to demand relevant records from the State Department, Justice Department and White House personnel.
In remarks to reporters, she called the brothers "disgusting individuals" and "the Jeffrey Epstein of our time."
"I think that they need to be locked up," she said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why this Arizona Democrat wants Congress to investigate Barron Trump
