london
—
A man has been found guilty of assaulting a woman in a British case that unexpectedly involved the US president’s son. Her son told British police that he witnessed the assault during a video call last year.
Matvei Rumiansev, a 22-year-old Russian national, was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and perverting a court of justice between 17 and 18 January 2025 after a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London, the PA media news agency reported on Wednesday.
The charge of perverting the course of justice related to a letter Rumyantsev wrote from prison to the woman after the attack asking her to drop the charges.
“I’m calling from the United States, and I got a call from a girl…she’s being beaten up,” Barron Trump, now 19, told British police on the phone on January 18, 2019, according to records.
“This happened about eight minutes ago. I just figured out how, how to call someone. It really is an emergency.”
President Trump said he met the woman on social media and later told police that his video calls with her were “brief” but “frequent.”
He told police in an email that a “shirtless man with dark hair” answered the phone, and seconds later, Trump said he witnessed a woman “crying and being beaten.”
British media said the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told jurors that Trump’s intervention helped prevent Rumyantsev’s murder.
Mr Rumyantsev was acquitted of one charge of rape and one count of intentional strangulation on January 18, the same day Mr Trump reported his case to British police, the court heard.
He was also acquitted of another rape and assault charge that allegedly occurred in November 2024, PA Media reported.
As the trial unfolded last week, Rumyantsev recalled the night of the attack, when he responded to a video call from Trump during an argument with a woman.
Rumyantsev also admitted to being “somewhat jealous” of the woman’s friendship with Trump, which he claimed led to an argument with the victim in 2024.
“I started explaining that I was also upset that she was talking to Barron Trump,” Rumyantsev said last week.
“I was never in control, but I was trying to tell her that if she looked at the messages I had with the girls 10 years ago and felt bad, maybe she could understand how I felt right now sitting there texting with other people,” he added.
Asked on Friday if he was jealous of the man the woman was talking to, Rumyantsev said: “What I was really unhappy about was that she was leading him (Trump) so openly.”
Prosecutors later alleged that Rumyantsev responded to a phone call from Trump last January and extended the conversation to demonstrate his “superiority” over the woman. Rumyantsev denied this.
Before handing down the verdict Wednesday, the judge asked jurors to treat Trump’s account of the alleged attack with caution.
Judge Benathan KC said on Monday that if President Trump had given evidence under oath or cross-examination in court, he could have been asked whether his perception was biased because he was a close friend of (the woman).
This is a developing story and is being updated.
