In a startling turn of events, Barron Trump, the youngest son of former US President Donald Trump, has testified in court that he witnessed a suspected assault against a close friend of his on a video call. The 22-year-old Matvei Rumiantcev is on trial for charges including assault and two counts of rape against the alleged victim, who is said to be friends with the US president’s son.
According to the court proceedings at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Wednesday, Barron Trump was on a video call with the woman, whose identity has been withheld, when he saw a man repeatedly punch her. In an emergency call to the authorities, Trump is reported to have told the operator that he had met the alleged victim through social media.
“She’s getting beat up,” Trump is quoted as saying in the transcript of the call released by the Crown Prosecution Service on Thursday. When asked by the operator if he had seen the alleged assault on social media, Trump clarified, “No, no… a video call.”
In a later email to the Metropolitan Police officers investigating the allegations, Trump relayed what the alleged victim had told him, stating, “I was told by the victim, who I am very close with, that this individual was giving her difficulty for a long time.”
Describing what he witnessed on the video call, Trump said it was “very brief indeed but indeed prevalent,” the court heard.
The court also heard that Trump had video-called the woman in the early hours of 18 January last year, after previously suggesting to the emergency operator that she had called him. “I didn’t expect her to pick up due to the time difference,” Trump said in his email to the police, the court heard.
Rumiantcev, who appeared in the dock wearing a blue suit and white shirt, denies the charges, including assault, actual bodily harm, two counts of rape, intentional strangulation, and perverting the course of justice by putting pressure on the woman to withdraw her complaint.
The trial continues, with the testimony of Barron Trump adding a new and disturbing dimension to the case.
