The 19-year-old was in the United States when he allegedly saw the incident unfold on 18 January 2025. Unable to call emergency services directly, he asked two friends to contact 999 on his behalf so that police in London could be alerted.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that Barron Trump later personally spoke to police, reporting that a woman he knew was being “beat up” during a brief video call.
Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, is standing trial accused of assault, two counts of rape, intentional strangulation and perverting the course of justice by pressuring the woman to withdraw her complaint. The alleged victim cannot be named for legal reasons. Rumiantsev denies all charges.
According to a transcript released by the Crown Prosecution Service, Trump told a police operator: “I’m calling from the US, uh I just got a call from a girl, you know, she’s getting beat up. This was happening about eight minutes ago.”
He added that the situation was “really an emergency”.
When asked how he knew the woman, Trump said he had met her on social media and suggested the details were irrelevant given the seriousness of the situation. At one point, the operator asked him to answer questions more directly.
Trump was later asked to provide a witness statement. In an email sent to police on 2 May, he said what he saw was “very brief indeed but indeed prevalent”.
He explained that he had not expected the video call to be answered due to the time difference. When it was, he said it was initially picked up by “a shirtless man with darkish hair” before the view switched to the woman crying and being hit.
“This whole interaction had lasted five to seven seconds,” he said.
Trump added that he had no direct evidence beyond what he saw during the call, but said the woman, whom he described as someone he was very close to, had previously told him she had been experiencing difficulties with the defendant for some time.
Prosecutors allege that Rumiantsev strangled the woman on the evening of 17 January 2025. She later contacted police, and the Russian national was arrested the following morning.
Giving evidence, Rumiantsev told jurors that he and the woman had been drinking together and had consensual sex. He said an argument later broke out and described her as “hysterical”, claiming he restrained her arms to prevent her from hitting him.
He told the court he noticed her phone ringing with a “Barron Trump face call” while they were on the sofa and said he answered it in the hope that she would calm down.
Rumiantsev also told the court that he became aware of the woman’s friendship with Trump in October 2024 and admitted feeling upset about their contact, though he denied being controlling.
The trial continues.
