Trump’s Shadow Protection of Accused Traffickers: What the ProPublica Bombshell Reveals

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By Dina Doll

From Trump to Epstein to the Tate brothers: The Expanding Web of Abuse Surrounding His Orbit

In a bombshell new report from ProPublica, it appears that the Epstein co-conspirators are not the only sex traffickers Donald Trump seems disturbingly ready to protect. According to the report, the Trump White House directly interfered with a federal investigation into the Tate brothers when they arrived in Florida earlier this year. The Tate brothers, of course, are well-known Trump supporters — but they are far from the only Trump-aligned figures recently charged with sexual crimes against minors. A sting operation in Minnesota caught an ICE employee attempting to solicit sex with a minor, and a Trump-pardoned January 6 defendant has now been charged with molesting a child as young as eleven.

The Tate brothers and White House Intervention

The Tate brothers have faced multiple charges of rape and human trafficking across multiple countries. In the U.K., they are facing 23 counts involving rape and human trafficking. Romania has leveled similar charges against them — including sex with a minor — and those Romanian charges will proceed first, followed by their U.K. trial.

Yet, with all of this hanging over them, they came to Florida. And they came because Trump won the presidency. They said so explicitly in February, declaring:

“The Tates will be free. Trump is the president. The good old days are back.”

These words — “the good old days are back” — coming from men charged with rape and human trafficking, are chilling. Especially given Trump’s recent attempts to halt the release of Epstein records and his move to call victim accounts a “hoax.” But the Tate brothers were confident. They believed they had protection.

Florida officials, however, were not nearly as eager to welcome them. Ron DeSantis did not want them entering the state, and the Florida Attorney General opened an investigation. Customs and Border Protection seized the Tate brothers’ electronic devices upon arrival — though whether this was part of Florida’s investigation or a separate federal effort remains unclear.

What is clear is this: a few days later, Paul Ingrassia — a White House official notorious for glorifying Nazi ideology, a man so controversial he cannot be confirmed by the Senate and repeatedly bounces from one appointment to another — sent a letter demanding that CBP return the Tates’ seized devices. ProPublica reviewed the letter.

One official who spoke anonymously said they were “disgusted” by the request. They described the order’s “brazeness” and the shocking expectation of complicity. As the official put it:

“It was so offensive to what we’re all here to do — to uphold the law and protect the American people. We don’t want to be seen as handing out any favors.”

Yet the devices were returned.

These men — facing charges of rape and human trafficking — benefited from intervention by the most powerful office in the country. That tells us everything about the worldview inside Trump’s orbit: who deserves privilege, who deserves protection, and who does not.

The Pardoned January 6 Defendant Charged with Child Molestation

The second case is equally disturbing. A January 6 defendant, pardoned by Trump, is now facing charges in Florida for molesting a child beginning at age eleven — three separate incidents.

Not only was this man pardoned, but he also weaponized the fantasy Trump allies have been spreading: the false claim that January 6 defendants will sue the government and receive massive payouts. He told the child he expected to receive $10 million and would use it to keep them quiet.

This is the quality of person who Trump deemed worthy of the pardon power.

Operation Creep and the ICE Employee

And then there is what happened in Minnesota. Operation Creep — the same kind of sting that earlier this year caught Justin Eichorn, the Republican state senator who coined the term “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — has once again exposed predation within Trump’s political sphere.

This time, an ICE employee was caught attempting to have sex with a minor. He believed his badge would shield him. When confronted, he told officers:

“I’m ICE, boys.”

This sense of impunity — the belief that proximity to Trump places someone above the law — is not an accident. It is a culture.

A Pattern We Cannot Ignore

These cases are not isolated. They reveal a pattern of protection, deference, and enablement around individuals accused of heinous crimes against children. From Epstein to the Tate brothers to pardoned insurrectionists to ICE employees emboldened by the Trump brand — the through-line is contempt for the law and a willingness to shield the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable.

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