A Russian man was sentenced to four years in prison for assaulting a woman in a British case that unexpectedly involved the US president’s son Barron Trump, who told British police he witnessed the assault during a video call last year.
Matvei Rumyantsev, 22, was sentenced in January at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London after being found guilty in January of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, British news agency PA Media reported.
He was also found guilty of perverting the courts of justice in connection with a letter Rumyantsev wrote from prison to a woman after the attack asking her to drop the charges.
During the trial, Rumyantsev also admitted to being “somewhat jealous” of the woman’s friendship with Barron Trump, whom he met on social media, and claimed he got into an argument with the victim in 2024 over the matter.
Trump, now 19, told British police in a 911 call on January 18 last year, according to records: “I’m calling from the United States, and I just got a call from a girl…she’s being beaten.”
“This happened about eight minutes ago. I just figured out how, how to call someone. It really is an emergency.”
President Trump later told police that his video calls with the woman were “brief” but “frequent.”
British media said the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told jurors she believed Trump’s intervention helped prevent Rumyantsev’s murder.
The court heard that Rumyantsev was acquitted of one charge of rape and one count of intentional strangulation in connection with the same incident that President Trump called British police on January 18.
He was also acquitted of another rape and assault charge that allegedly occurred in November 2024, PA Media reported.
