Barron Trump praised by UK judge for phoning 999 to report attack on friend

A wealthy Russian man who beat up a woman and filmed part of the attack to show Donald Trump’s youngest son Barron has been jailed.

Matvei Rumiantsev, 23, beat up the victim out of jealousy at her friendship with Mr Trump, who turned 20 last week, after the pair met through social media.

During the attack, he answered a FaceTime call on her phone from the president’s son and turned the camera around to film himself kicking her while she cowered crying on the floor.

Mr Trump called 999 and was put through to the City of London Police and pleaded with the operator: ‘It’s really an emergency. I’m calling from the US, uh I just got a call from a girl, you know, she’s getting beat up.’

Giving evidence at Snaresbrook Crown Court, the woman said Mr Trump’s call to the UK police ‘helped save my life’.

Jailing Rumiantsev for four years, Mr Justice Bennathan described him as a ‘trained fighter’ and ‘a man given to jealousy’ with a temper.

He told him: ‘Your lack of insight and empathy was apparent at trial. You continue to try to blame the complainant for everything that has happened.’

In her evidence to the court, the victim said she believed during the violence which lasted around an hour that she ‘could not escape and… might die’.

‘You knew she was a vulnerable, emotional young woman when you attacked her,’ the judge said to Rumiantsev.

‘I recall that in her first 999 call she said “please help me I’m gonna get killed”. I am in no doubt whatsoever that was exactly how she felt.’

The judge praised Mr Trump’s ‘lifesaving’ actions in immediately raising the alarm.

‘He saw you beating her up and you held the phone and filmed her, an angry act to humiliate her,’ Mr Justice Bennathan said.

‘Mr Trump properly and responsibly, despite being in the United States, made sure the emergency services here were called, and he told them what he had seen.’

Although he declined to appear as a witness at the trial, Mr Trump’s account to police was still a vital piece of the case against Rumiantsev.

The transcript of his 999 call – made just days before his father’s inauguration – shows he pleaded for urgent action and was even accused of being ‘rude’ when he insisted it was a waste of time explaining how he knew the woman.

‘I’m calling from the US, uh, I just got a call from a girl, you know, she’s getting beat up,’ Mr Trump said.

When asked how he knew her, he replied: ‘I don’t think these details matter, she’s getting beat up but OK fine, also I met her on social media, I don’t think that matters.’

Later in the 999 call, he pleaded: ‘She’s getting really badly beat up and the call was about eight minutes ago, I don’t know what could have happened by now.’

Mr Trump was then in email contact with detectives about possibly appearing as a prosecution witness.

In reply to one email last May he told them ‘what I saw was very brief indeed but indeed prevalent’, the court heard.

‘I didn’t expect her to pick up due to the difference in the time zone to the fact I am in the USA, the phone was answered but not by her, to my dismay,’ the email continued.

‘The individual who picked up the phone was a shirtless man with darkish hair, although I didn’t get a good look, this view lasted maybe one second and I was racing with adrenaline.

‘The camera was then flipped to the victim getting hit while crying, stating something in Russian. The guy had hung up. This whole interaction had lasted five to seven seconds.’

Mr Trump grew up in the public eye as the only child of Donald and Melania Trump and was rumoured to be helping his father with his election strategy in 2024.

His older brother Eric Trump told the Press Association in November 2024 that Barron persuaded his father to go on a podcast tour as part of efforts to court Gen Z and millennial voters.

The US president appeared on several podcasts popular among young people, including The Joe Rogan Experience – the biggest podcast in the world – as well as podcasts with internet personalities Theo Von, Logan Paul and Adin Ross.

The victim of the attack said she believes Rumiantsev deliberately answered the FaceTime call and showed her crying and screaming on the floor as a form of punishment.

Prosecutor Serena Gates KC said: ‘She thinks the phone call was answered and the assault shown on video because the defendant wanted an audience.’

At trial, Ms Gates said Rumiantsev was jealous of the woman’s friendship with Barron Trump, perhaps because of his ‘public profile’.

Rumiantsev said he became aware of the woman’s friendship with Mr Trump in October 2024, and during questioning at trial he described himself as ‘jealous to some extent’.

The court had heard Rumiantsev and the woman had been drinking together on the evening of January 17, 2025, and into the early hours of the next day.

Rumiantsev, who comes from a wealthy family and has martial arts training, assaulted the woman that day, including hitting her in the face.

In his evidence, he told jurors the woman’s phone was ‘constantly buzzing’ that day with FaceTime calls from Mr Trump.

Asked by Ms Gates if he was jealous of males that the woman might speak to, he said: ‘What I was really unhappy about was that she was frankly leading him (Barron Trump) on.’

After his arrest, Rumiantsev made ‘repeated efforts’ to try to avoid justice by convincing the woman to withdraw her allegations, with a phone call from the police station and a letter to a friend while he was in prison.

Rumiantsev denied but was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice.

He was found not guilty of one count of rape and intentional strangulation relating to the same date when Mr Trump made his report to police and another count of rape and assault alleged to have occurred in November 2024.

In a report from counselling sessions which was handed to the judge, Rumiantsev was said to be ‘taking responsibility for his own shortcomings’.

The judge said Rumiantsev may be deported from the UK as a consequence of his convictions.

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