Dressed in his trademark sunglasses and a skintight black T-shirt, Andrew Tate strode into a Las Vegas arena like a returning king. He was there to watch Power Slap, a UFC offshoot where people slap each other in the face with such force that doctors say it could lead to brain damage and death.
Days earlier, Tate and his brother Tristan had been in Romania, their assets seized, awaiting trial on human trafficking charges. But following reported conversations between Romanian officials and the Trump administration, the Romanian government lifted a travel ban on the brothers. Now, as a heavily male crowd watched men slap one another so hard they collapsed, the UFC president, Dana White, warmly embraced the Tates. White, a Trump ally and Meta board member who was once caught on camera slapping his own wife, smiled at the Tates, looked them in the eyes, and told them: “Welcome to the States, boys.”
The next day, the Tates were back for a mixed martial arts fight night. This time, they were joined in the crowd by the FBI director, Kash Patel, and Mel Gibson – another Trump ally, who once pled no contest to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge.
