Andrew Tate and brother land in Florida after Romanian travel restrictions lifted
Andrew Tate (left) and his brother Tristan Tate are pictured inside The Court of Appeal in Bucharest, Romania, on December 10, 2024. (Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP v
(LONDON) — Controversial influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have landed in Florida, after Romanian officials announced that court restrictions prohibiting them from leaving Romania while awaiting trial were lifted.
The pair were traveling aboard a private jet after being allowed to leave Romania, according to a source close to the brothers.
Their spokesperson shared a live feed of the plane arriving in Fort Lauderdale late Thursday morning.
The charges against the Tates remain in force, and they will be expected to return to Romania for court appearances, according to a statement from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, or DIICOT.
The brothers had been confined to Romania since late 2022 when they were arrested on allegations of human trafficking, sexual abuse, money laundering and forming an organized criminal group.
They were charged in 2023 and have denied the allegations.
The Tates’ departure follows reports that Trump administration officials had lobbied Romania to lift a travel ban on them while they are awaiting trial.
A lawyer for an American woman who is one of the key alleged victims in the Romanian criminal case against Andrew Tate condemned the Trump administration after he was allowed to leave Romania.
“It seems clear the U.S. intervened in Romania to assist the Tate brothers who are being prosecuted for sex trafficking over 35 women including minors,” Dani Pinter, senior vice president at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said in a statement. “This is a slap in the face to all the victims of the Tate brothers especially the U.S. victim who is not being protected by her country.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his office had no involvement in the case and found out through the media that the brothers were traveling to Florida.
“But the reality is, no, Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air,” he said when asked by a reporter at an unrelated press conference on Thursday if Andrew Tate is welcome in Florida.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit back at President Donald Trump’s call for the country to hold fresh presidential elections following Tuesday’s historic Russia-U.S. talks in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh — to which Ukraine was not invited — represented “an important step forward” toward ending Russia’s three-year-old invasion of its neighbor, according to a State Department readout.
Hours after the talks concluded, Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that Zelenskyy’s public approval rating was “down to 4%,” failing to provide a source for the figure. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also repeatedly framed Zelenskyy as illegitimate, citing the postponement of the country’s 2024 presidential elections due to martial law.
During a Wednesday press conference in Kyiv, Zelenskyy challenged Trump’s claim, pointing to respected recent surveys showing him polling consistently above 50% with voters and describing Trump’s assertion as Russian “disinformation.”
“If someone wants to replace me right now, then right now won’t work,” Zelenskyy said. “If we are talking about 4% then we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it comes from Russia. And we have evidence.”
The president said he would conduct opinion polls for trust ratings for world leaders, including Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Zelensky said he took Trump’s comments “calmly” and that Ukraine would help get the president out of information “isolation”.
Hours after the U.S.-Russia discussions concluded with a commitment to continue talks, Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage into Ukraine. Ukraine’s air force reported 167 drones and two Iskander ballistic missiles launched into the country, with 106 intercepted and 56 more lost in flight.
Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov reported a “massive enemy strike on a densely populated area of the city” causing electricity, heating and water outages.
Zelenskyy said in a post to social media that the strike targeted “civilian energy facilities,” in keeping with longstanding Russian doctrine. “For nearly three years now, the Russian army has relentlessly used missiles and attack drones against them,” he said.
“Just yesterday, after the notorious meeting in Riyadh, it became clear that Russian representatives were once again lying, claiming they do not target Ukraine’s energy sector,” Zelenskyy continued.
“Yet, almost simultaneously, they launched another attack, with drones striking electrical transformers,” he wrote. “And this is during winter — it was minus 6 degrees Celsius at night.”
“We must never forget that Russia is ruled by pathological liars — they cannot be trusted and must be pressured,” the president said.
Kyiv’s exclusion from the Saudi talks have badly unsettled Ukraine and its European allies. Trump was unapologetic when speaking with reporters Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, just as Odesa came under attack.
“They’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that,” Trump said of Ukraine, suggesting Kyiv could have made a deal with Moscow to avoid the huge loss of lives and land.
Trump said he believes he has “the power to end this war,” while falsely claiming Ukraine started the conflict against Russia. The war began when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, a campaign that followed eight years of cross-border Russian aggression in Crimea and Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
“I think it’s going very well,” Trump said of U.S. efforts to end the war. “But today I heard, oh, ‘Well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years — you should have never started it.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Zelenskyy criticized the Trump administration’s recent demand for a treaty that would hand over 50% of Ukraine’s natural resources to the U.S., in exchange for no security guarantees. Trump himself has repeatedly said he wants $500 billion worth of Ukraine’s rare minerals to pay back the U.S. for its support during Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskyy said such a demand was “not serious”, and corrected Trump’s claim that the U.S. has provided more money than Europe.
“There wasn’t a word there about security guarantees,” he said. “There is nothing precise there. I can’t sell the state.”
Zelenskyy said that if Ukraine cannot join NATO, it needs a strong army backed by Western weapons and air defense. He said Ukraine was looking for a troop contingent from European countries to help protect Ukraine after a ceasefire, but warned that Ukraine’s own troops needed to be backed by air defense, which only the U.S. can provide.
“Only the Americans, President Donald Trump, have this protection, this air defense, it’s exclusively from them, and that’s what’s important,” Zelenskyy said. “We have a map that shows us this, but we are ready for dialogue, for discussion, about what quantity, how much is needed. We’ve calculated everything; we’ve figured it all out. So this is essentially the main point of what we are requesting.”
Zelenskyy suggested on Tuesday that the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh merely revived ultimatums issued by Moscow in the early stages of its invasion.
“I have the impression that there are now some negotiations happening and they have the same mood, but between Russia and the United States,” Zelenskyy said during a visit to Turkey.
“Again, about Ukraine without Ukraine,” he added. “It’s interesting, if Ukraine didn’t yield to ultimatums in the most difficult moment, where does the feeling come from that Ukraine will agree to this now?”
“I never intended to yield to Russia’s ultimatums and I don’t intend to now,” Zelenskyy added.
In Riyadh, the U.S. and Russia agreed to appoint as-yet unnamed special representatives to continue peace talks, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Addressing the Russian parliament on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — who led Moscow’s team in Riyadh — told lawmakers that “the atmosphere is positive, the intentions are correct, we will see how the situation develops further, what decisions will be made.”
He added, “The main thing is to meet, listen and hear, make decisions that will be realistic.”
Putin aide Yuri Ushakov told the state-controlled Channel One television channel that Trump’s Ukraine-Russia envoy — Keith Kellogg — would negotiate a settlement with Kyiv and European nations.
Kellogg arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday morning, where he is expected to hold talks with Ukrainian leaders.
Kellogg told reporters his “mission is to sit and listen” and then report back to Trump. He parried questions about whether Trump is siding with Putin, saying that Trump wants to end the war because “he understands the human suffering” it is causing.
Kellogg added that he agrees with Trump that the war would never have begun if he had been president at the time.
ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
(ROME) — Pope Francis on Thursday made his first public comments since being hospitalized on Feb. 14, thanking the public for their prayers.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the Square, I accompany you from here. May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you,” the pope said in a recorded statement made in Spanish. The statement was played at the start of the rosary in St. Peter’s Square.
The pope, 88, “remained stable compared to previous days” and did not have “episodes of respiratory insufficiency” on Thursday, his 21st day in the hospital, the Vatican in its evening update.
The pope “continued with respiratory and motor physiotherapy with benefit,” the Vatican press office, the Holy See, said Thursday in its evening update. “Hemodynamic parameters and blood tests remained stable. He did not present fever.”
“The doctors are still maintaining the prognosis as reserved,” the Vatican said.
The Vatican said that, “in view of the stability of the clinical picture,” it won’t provide another medical update on the pope until Saturday.
Francis on Thursday “dedicated himself to some work activities in the morning and afternoon, alternating rest and prayer,” the Vatican said, and he received the Eucharist before lunch.
The pope “remained stationary” on Wednesday, “without showing any episodes of respiratory failure,” and rested peacefully overnight into Thursday, the Vatican said.
The pontiff had needed medical intervention amid two episodes of “acute respiratory failure” on Monday, Vatican sources told ABC News.
Pope Francis spent his 20th day in hospital on Wednesday in an armchair, participated in the “ritual blessing of the Holy Ashes that were imposed on him by the celebrant” and received the Eucharist, the Vatican said.
“During the morning he also called Father Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest of the Holy Family in Gaza. In the afternoon he alternated rest with work,” the Vatican said.
Francis, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.
(LONDON) — Munich police said at least 28 people were injured after a “vehicle drove into a group of people” in the center of the city on Thursday morning.
“The driver was able to be secured on site and currently poses no further danger,” police said in a post in German on social media.
Police said in an update that at least two of those injured were in a serious condition and that one child required resuscitation.
Bavarian state premier Markus Söder told journalists that at least 28 people were injured. The incident is being treated as a “suspected attack,” Söder said.
Police said the suspect is believed to be a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker. Authorities have not yet suggested a motive or named the suspect.
Söder said during the press conference that the suspect was already known to police for drugs and shoplifting offenses.
Police said the incident occurred in the area of Dachauer Street and Seidle Street in the heart of Munich, close to the city’s central train station.
The incident occurred at Stilgmaierplatz, where a rally organized by the Verdi trade union was taking place from 10:30 a.m. local time, police said. The event was accompanied by police and therefore officers were already on site.
A Munich Police spokesperson told ABC News that the suspect overtook a police vehicle with his car before accelerating and plowing into the back of the demonstration. Police believe he acted alone.
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter told reporters that “many people have been injured, including children. I am deeply shocked. My thoughts are with the injured.”
“The police have arrested the driver of the vehicle, but the exact circumstances are still unclear,” Reiter added.
Police said a “major operation” was underway, urging residents to avoid the area in order to assist emergency responders.
Images from the scene showed police and medical responders working near a damaged vehicle surrounded by belongings and debris. Police cordoned off the area of the incident as helicopters circled above. Police have not identified the suspect or the vehicle involved.
Thursday’s vehicle crash came less than two months after a car plowed through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing two people and injuring nearly 70 others, local officials said at the time.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Helena Skinner, Felix Franz and Dada Jovanovic contributed to this report.
