Before their arrest last week, the brothers spent several days in Washington DC, hosted by a Trump envoy, and were seen in the halls of Capitol Hill and enjoying one of the city’s most exclusive private members’ clubs.
Paolo Zampolli, the former modelling scout who introduced the president to Melania, invited the Tates to a summer party on July 15. Sources close to Mr Zampolli said he was largely unaware of the brothers and did not know the exact purpose of their trip.
“He spoke to [Andrew] for about 15 minutes in two days,” said the source.
The night before, the Italian-American businessman accompanied the pair to the Ned, an exclusive private members’ club near the White House, which is often frequented by high-level politicians.
The Tates’ arrest has prompted anger among large portions of the president’s base, who have become frustrated at the lack of prosecutions of Mr Trump’s enemies and those associated with the Epstein files.
Another US official close to discussions about the case told The Telegraph that the White House had been blindsided by the US department of justice’s decision to follow through with the British arrest warrant.
“The attitude is that we have not arrested Democrats that stole the election, or people associated with Epstein, but we are going to hand over American citizens to the UK,” the official said.
“Rubio didn’t know about it, Trump didn’t know about it, and Todd Blanche did not know about it. We have watched Trump get hit with phoney indictments – our attitude is if you have the proof, show us.”