A Russian man has been convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend after Barron Trump called the police to save her from the vicious attack he witnessed on a video call.
Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, was found guilty after a jury heard he beat his British then-girlfriend, also 22, after she answered a late-night video call from President Donald Trump’s youngest son, who had met the unnamed woman online.
The case offered an unprecedented glimpse into the mysterious love life of the 6-foot-7 first son, 19, who has been linked to a close associate of the misogynist internet influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, and has spoken to Andrew Tate.
On Jan. 18, 2025—two days before his father’s second inauguration—the panicked NYU student told a City of London Police operator that “a girl” he knew was “getting beat up.”
He told them that a 9:30 p.m. ET video call he made to the woman connected and that he briefly saw a man on screen before the camera flipped to her crying and being hit.
“This was happening about eight minutes ago. I just figured out how to, how to call someone… it’s really an emergency,” he said.
In an email to investigators in May 2025, Barron said what he witnessed in the London apartment was “very brief,” explaining that a “shirtless man with darkish hair”—who later was revealed to be Rumiantsev—picked up the call for “maybe one second.”
He said the view then switched to the woman “getting hit while crying” during a 5- to 7-second window.
Prosecutors argued that Rumiantsev, a Russian national who had been living in Canary Wharf in east London, was driven by jealousy over the woman’s growing friendship with the first son. Rumiantsev admitted in evidence that he was “jealous to some extent” and complained that she was “frankly leading him [Barron] on.”
The court heard how the woman, who cannot be named, had referred to Barron as “sweetheart” in messages, and that their late-night texts and FaceTime calls had become a major flashpoint in the relationship, with Rumiantsev complaining that Barron was calling her “around the clock.”
In earlier testimony, the woman told jurors that Barron’s decision to call the police “helped save my life,” saying the emergency call gave her the chance to get back up after being forced to her knees.
Judge Mr. Justice Bennathan KC instructed jurors that Barron’s account, given by email and 999 transcript rather than in live evidence, was hearsay and should not be the main basis for any conviction, telling them to focus on the rest of the evidence about what happened in the apartment that night.
Rumiantsev, who has trained in martial arts, was acquitted of rape and intentional strangulation over the same incident, and of separate rape and assault charges dating back to November 2024, following the week-long trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London.
However, he was also convicted of perverting the course of justice over a letter he sent the woman from prison asking her to withdraw her allegations after his arrest.
Rumiantsev will be sentenced on March 27.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
