A Russian man has been jailed for four years after being convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend in an attack witnessed by Barron Trump, who called police after seeing the violence unfold during a video call.
Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, was found guilty earlier this year of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after a jury heard he beat his British then-girlfriend following a late-night call from President Donald Trump’s youngest son, who had met the woman online.
On Friday morning at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London, a judge said the sentence should mean Rumiantsev is “automatically liable to deportation.” If he remains in the U.K., the judge added, he will be released on licence after “serving 40 percent of the four years.”
Justice Bennathan said the 6′6 “trained fighter” is a man “given to jealousy” and also criticised Rumiantsev for being “totally unrepentant.”
The judge praised Barron, who recently turned 20, for his quick thinking. “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,” he said.
The case offered a rare window into the private life of the now-20-year-old first son. On Jan. 18, 2025—just two days before his father’s second inauguration—Barron contacted a City of London Police operator to report that “a girl” he knew was “getting beat up.”
He said a 9:30 p.m. ET video call connected briefly, showing a man on screen before the view flipped to the woman crying and being struck.
“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 a later email to investigators, Barron described the incident as “very brief,” recalling how a “shirtless man with darkish hair”—later identified as Rumiantsev—appeared for “maybe one second” before the camera shifted to the woman “getting hit while crying” over a 5- to 7-second window.
Prosecutors argued that Rumiantsev, a Russian national living in London, was driven by jealousy over the woman’s growing connection with Barron. He admitted he was “jealous to some extent,” telling the court she was “frankly leading him on.”
Jurors heard that 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 flashpoint in the relationship, with Rumiantsev complaining Barron was calling her “around the clock.”
In earlier testimony, the woman said Barron’s decision to alert police “helped save my life,” giving her a chance to get back up after being forced to her knees during the assault.
Rumiantsev was also convicted of perverting the course of justice after sending a letter from prison urging the woman to withdraw her allegations following his arrest.
However, he was acquitted of rape and intentional strangulation relating to the same incident, as well as separate rape and assault charges dating back to November 2024.
Following the trial, he was sentenced to four years in prison.
Earlier this year, the judge instructed jurors that Barron’s account—provided via email and a 999 call transcript rather than live testimony—was hearsay and should not form the primary basis for a conviction, directing them instead to consider the broader body of evidence about what took place.
However, on Friday morning, the judge praised Barron’s role in alerting police to the attack.
The Daily Beast has approached the White House for comment.
