An alleged rapist was jealous of a woman’s friendship with Barron Trump and beat her up in a London flat while the President’s son watched in horror on FaceTime, a court heard today.
Barron told British police that he is ‘very close’ to the woman who he met online – and she says Mr Trump saved her life by calling 999 from the US in January last year.
Russian national Matvei Rumianstev, 22, was envious of the US President’s son’s relationship with the woman – and was ‘upset’ about their texting and her calling him ‘sweetheart’, jurors were told.
He then flew into a rage when Barron tried to phone her, it was said.
Rumianstev, a former MMA fighter, had answered a video call from Mr Trump on the woman’s phone, showed Barron her face then grabbed her hair and pushed her to the floor, shouting ‘you are not worth anything’, jurors heard.
During the alleged attack, Rumiantsev called the woman a ‘slut’ and a ‘whore’ and kicked her in the stomach when she was on the floor next to the fridge, east London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
Rumiantsev is on trial accused of assault and two counts of rape, among other charges, against the alleged victim, who Mr Trump had met online.
Donald Trump’s youngest son, 19, had told detectives he was ‘racing with adrenaline’ when he telephoned the UK emergency services to help his friend.
Barron spoke directly with a 999 operator when he heard what he thought was a Russian national repeatedly punching his friend during a video call. He said: ‘I just got a call from a girl I know. She’s getting beaten up. It’s really an emergency, please’.
Barron Trump phoned the City of London Police from the US and told a call handler: ‘I just got a call from a girl I know. She’s getting beaten up’. The man accused of raping the woman was ‘upset’ that she had been texting Barron
Russian national Matvei Rumiantsev is accused of assault, actual bodily harm, two counts of rape, intentional strangulation and perverting the course of justice
Sasha Wass KC, defending, has suggested that the woman’s accounts of the alleged attacks were ‘untrue and fabricated’.
Rumiantsev started his evidence on Thursday afternoon, aided by a Russian interpreter.
Ms Wass asked him how his knowledge of the relationship between Barron Trump and the complainant ‘came about?’, and he replied that he found out while with his alleged victim in Morocco.
The woman later told police he was ‘jealous’ and ‘controlling’ about her friendships – yet he himself was still texting his ex-girlfriend.
‘I tried to explain to her that I felt upset.. by her talking to Barron Trump,’ Rumiantsev told the court about a previous row that led to the police being called.
‘I was in no way controlling but I tried to make her understand that if she feels unwell seeing some messages I’ve had with girls from back ten years ago, she should maybe understand how I could feel when she’s sat there at this moment texting someone else.’
Ms Wass asked: ‘Are you able to say she was actually texting (Barron Trump) at the time she was with you?’
‘Yes, she was,’ Rumiantsev replied.
He was asked about messages he later sent to the complainant after an incident which led to police being called and the complainant telling officers he had broken her air fryer.
Rumiantsev confirmed that one message could be translated as: ‘You started calling him sweetheart, I felt so unwell.’
Ms Wass asked: ‘Who were you referring to as far as “him” was concerned?’
Rumiantsev replied: ‘I was referring to Barron Trump.’
Ms Wass asked: ‘Was there any discussion that you remember about Barron Trump on that evening on November 3?’
Rumiantsev replied: ‘Yes I can remember.’
Ms Wass asked him: ‘And how long did it come about that the topic of Barron Trump was introduced to the conversation – who raised it?’
The Russian said: ‘She raised it. She just started showing me her conversations with him, commenting on that.’
Ms Wass asked: ‘So she showed you her telephone conversations and she was able to see conversations you had on your telephone?’
‘Yes’, he replied.
Police attended his home in Poplar, east London, in the early hours of January 18, 2025, following two 999 calls from the alleged victim and one from Mr Trump.
The woman told officers that she had been slapped, punched, kicked and strangled.
Barron reached the UK police from the US after he video-called the alleged victim and said he saw her being attacked.
He later told the police that he is ‘very close’ to an alleged rape victim, a court in east London heard today.
‘This individual was giving her difficulty for a long time’, he also said.
The alleged victim told police who visited her flat on March 11 last year that Rumiantsev ‘used to make her drink until intoxicated and do sexual acts with her’.
In a prepared statement two days later Rumiantsev said he had ‘never had sex with (the complainant) at a time I did not have reasonable belief in consent’.
He added: ‘The lack of specificity as to date and time of the allegations makes it impossible for me to guess which occurrence of sex she is referring to.’
In his statement the Russian also noted that ‘Barron Trump refuses to provide a statement in respect of the incident in January 2025’ and said he would ‘exercise (his) legal right to silence and answer no comment to any questions you may ask of me.’
Barron’s father Donald at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos today
Jurors were shown photos of the complainant’s injuries including bruising to right side of the eye, a bruise to the right jawline and a bruise to the right thigh.
Barron told police he was ‘racing with adrenaline’ when he witnessed a woman being beaten up during the FaceTime call.
Jurors were played a recording of the conversation, in which he gave the woman’s address, then added: ‘It’s really an emergency, please. I got a call from her with a guy beating her up.’
Barron told the call handler he knew the woman through social media, after being ticked off by the operator for refusing to answer questions.
He apologised at the end of the call for being ‘rude’.
The court heard Mr Trump called the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, last January 18.
Shortly afterwards he spoke to police in London after he believed she was being assaulted, the court heard, and a transcript of the call was released by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
‘Oh I’m calling from the US, uh I just got a call from a girl, you know, she’s getting beat up,’ the transcript said Mr Trump told City of London Police in the call.
‘This was happening about eight minutes ago. I just figured out how to, how to call someone. Uh, uh it’s really an emergency.’
In the call, Mr Trump said he met the alleged victim on social media.
The transcript said Mr Trump said ‘I don’t think these details matter, she’s getting hurt’, when the City of London operator questioned him about how he came by the information.
‘Can you stop being rude and actually answer my questions,’ the operator said. ‘If you want to help the person, you’ll answer my questions clearly and precisely, thank you.’
The court heard that police in London investigating the allegations asked if Mr Trump would be willing to provide a witness statement.
In a reply email the US president’s son wrote that what he saw was ‘very brief indeed but indeed prevalent’.
‘I didn’t expect her to pick up due to the time difference,’ the email from May 2 said, jurors heard.
‘The phone was picked up.
‘The individual who answered was a shirtless man with darkish hair. This view lasted maybe one second… then the view flipped to the victim.’
The court heard the email continued: ‘I made two of my friends call the Met Police in the UK, even though they are in the US.
‘As per evidence I do not have any, I was told by the victim who I am very close with, that this individual was giving her difficulty for a long time.’
Jurors heard that police replied to the email from Mr Trump and did not receive a response to that or to a follow-up email sent on July 1.
Barron has been credited as having raised the alarm, during Rumiantsev’s ongoing trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
The call was made at 2.23am on January 18 last year. The six-foot-seven college student is Trump’s fifth child, and the President’s only child with his wife, Melania.
Bodycam footage from police at the scene showed the woman telling officers: ‘I am friends with Barron Trump, Donald Trump’s son.’
One of the officers can then be heard telling a colleague: ‘So apparently this informant from America is likely to be Donald Trump’s son.’
The woman is then asked to call Barron back, and the American explains to officers that he could see her crying and being struck during the FaceTime call.
‘I called you guys – that was the best thing I could do. I wasn’t going to call back and threaten things to him because that would just make the situation worse,’ he told the officers.
Giving evidence, the woman said: ‘He [Barron Trump] helped save my life. That call was like a sign from God at that moment.’
Rumiantsev, who wore a blue suit and white shirt in the dock, denies assault, actual bodily harm, two counts of rape, intentional strangulation and perverting the course of justice by pressuring the woman to withdraw her complaints.
The trial continues.
