Attorney Joe McBride held two press conferences outside a Miami federal courthouse, following an eight-hour hearing on whether Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate should remain detained pending extradition to the United Kingdom. In his effort to argue that the brothers pose no danger and are unlikely to flee, McBride delivered a line that instantly became the story of the day.
“Guilty men don’t run,” he told reporters. “And I should say innocent men. Innocent men do not run.”
The correction came a beat too late. Attorneys built entire careers on choosing words carefully and McBride’s slip inverted the very point he was trying to make, momentarily suggesting his clients fit the description he meant to distance them from. It was not his only stumble of the day. Moments later, defending the brothers’ character, he told the crowd:
“Because Andrew and Tristan are innocent. They’ve never done nothing wrong,”
The double negative undercut the claim it was meant to support.
The hearing itself covered far more than the slip. McBride told reporters the defense had called witnesses the government could not have anticipated, including Andrew Tate’s partner Cece, who traveled from overseas to testify about the brothers’ character as fathers. Under cross-examination, however, she reportedly acknowledged a lifestyle in Dubai funded by Tate, a detail that raises questions about how independent her testimony really was.
McBride also spent time attacking the government’s legal team, calling their courtroom comments “smug, condescending, inconsiderate,” while in earlier remarks referring to opposing counsel as “j***offs.” He complained about a security camera in the attorney visitation room, calling it an invasion of privilege, apparently unaware that visual monitoring without audio is standard federal procedure under 28 CFR 540.205.
Perhaps the most striking moment came when McBride, defending Andrew Tate’s public persona, said:
“If you believed everything that Top G says is true, there’s something wrong with you.”
No ruling was issued just yet The judge is expected to decide on continued detention in the coming days, with the UK’s formal extradition package due on or before September 16.
