A recent report from ProPublica has added to the list of oddly deferential or protective actions by the Trump administration toward accused and convicted sex abusers.
ProPublica reports that scandal-plagued General Services Administration official Paul Ingrassia meddled with a federal investigation of Andrew and Tristan Tate, two popular far-right podcasters who are fighting numerous allegations of rape and sex trafficking in the U.S. and abroad.
Both brothers are members of the toxic online community known as the “manosphere,” where Andrew Tate — a self-described “misogynist” Trump supporter who’s been known to promote racism and violence toward women — has amassed a large following. Trump associates and MAGA influencers have cozied up to Tate and the manosphere in an effort to attract converts to their political cause.
Ingrassia served as a lawyer to the Tate brothers before joining the Trump administration, where he’s recently been embroiled in a scandal over texts in which he wrote of having a “Nazi streak.”
Ingrassia has previously called Tate “the embodiment of the ancient ideal of excellence,” and suggested the influencer has been targeted by “global elites.” The ProPublica report says Ingrassia — who himself was the subject of an internal Homeland Security investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, of which he was ultimately cleared — interfered after Customs and Border Protection officials seized the Tates’ electronic devices during a visit to Florida earlier this year.
That trip also provoked some MAGA backlash and an investigation by Florida’s Republican attorney general.
Citing sources and documents that have not been independently reviewed by MS NOW, ProPublica reported:
Interviews and records reviewed by ProPublica show a White House official told senior Department of Homeland Security officials to return the devices to the brothers several days after they were seized. The official who delivered the message, Paul Ingrassia, is a lawyer who previously represented the Tate brothers before joining the White House, where he was working as its DHS liaison. In his written request, a copy of which was reviewed by ProPublica, Ingrassia chided authorities for taking the action, saying the seizure of the Tates’ devices was not a good use of time or resources. The request to return the electronics to the Tates, he emphasized, was coming from the White House. ProPublica reported that the White House declined to answer its questions about whether Ingrassia was acting on his own or at someone’s direction. The DHS told the outlet the brothers’ devices “were detained and turned over to Homeland Security Investigators for inspectional purposes.” The Tate brothers’ current lawyer, Joseph McBride, told the outlet their devices have yet to be returned. Ingrassia told ProPublica “there was no intervention” and that “nothing happened.” His lawyer gave a slightly different response to the outlet: Ingrassia’s lawyer, Edward Paltzik, said in a text message: ‘Mr. Ingrassia never ordered that the Tate Brothers’ devices be returned to them, nor did he say — and nor would he have ever said — that such a directive came from the White House. This story is fiction, simply not true.’ When questioned about whether Ingrassia had asked authorities to return the devices, even if he did not order them to, Paltzik declined to comment, explaining that ‘the word “ask” is inappropriate because it is meaningless in this context. He either ordered something or he didn’t. And as I said, he did NOT order anything.’ Paltzik has been earning his money defending Ingrassia in the press of late. After the “Nazi streak” text scandal, Paltzik told Politico the texts “could be manipulated or are being provided with material context omitted” before claiming some of the texts “clearly read as self-deprecating and satirical humor.” The incident is further evidence that when alleged sex traffickers such as Tate or convicted traffickers like commutation-seeking Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell can perceivably benefit the president or his allies in some way, they can find powerful friends within the administration.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
