A man has said he was “jealous to some extent” of the attention his alleged rape victim was giving to US President Donald Trump’s youngest son, a jury has heard.
Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, is on trial at London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court accused of assault and two counts of rape, among other charges, against the woman who jurors have heard is friends with Barron Trump, 19.
Rumiantsev also denied answering a FaceTime call made by the president’s son to the woman, while he was allegedly beating her up, as a way to show “dominance” over Mr Trump.
On Friday, under cross-examination, Rumiantsev was asked if he was jealous of males that the woman might speak to.
He said: “What I was really unhappy about was that she was frankly leading him (Barron Trump) on.”
Mr Justice Bennathan KC told Rumiantsev the trial is about whether “you attacked her or not”.
Rumiantsev responded, telling the court: “I am being portrayed as a jealous person who can lose his temper due to jealousy.
“I want to just make clear that her actions towards him was wrong and it was not fair.”
He added: “I was jealous to some extent.”
Rumiantsev, a Russian citizen who lives in Canary Wharf, east London, denies assault, actual bodily harm, intentional strangulation, perverting the course of justice and two counts of rape in charges dating between November 1 2024 and January 23 2025.
Jurors have heard Rumiantsev and the woman had been drinking together on the evening of January 17 2025 and into the early hours of the next day.
Rumiantsev has said they had consensual sex twice in that time.
The prosecution say Rumiantsev raped, strangled and assaulted the woman that day, including hitting her in the face as he later beat her.
He answered her phone during the alleged beating to a FaceTime call from Mr Trump and turned the screen to the woman who was crying and screaming on the floor, the court heard.
Rumiantsev said she was lashing out at him and he did not “intentionally” hit her in the face.
Prosecutor Serena Gates said: “I would suggest that the reason you made no attempt to finish that call was that you wanted to physically show your dominance over her and you wanted to show that to the other person on the end of the telephone.”
Rumiantsev said this was not true.
Ms Gates said the woman later tried to run out of the flat as she was “hysterical, trying to escape” and knocking on neighbours’ doors to get help.
Rumiantsev said he may have grabbed her hair while she was hitting him and brought her back into the house.
He recalled stopping her calling the police at least once.
Rumiantsev told the court: “I was drunk. I was not angry, was not jealous. I was emotional and very exhausted from a long evening.
“I was a bit tired of her hysterical behaviour.”
Her behaviour “deteriorated sharply” after he showed her face to Mr Trump on the FaceTime call, Rumiantsev recalled.
Rumiantsev had hoped it would calm her down, telling the jury: “I was demonstrating to her that she would not behave in the same way in front of other people and what she was doing was unreasonable.
“I thought it might bring her back to her senses.”
Instead “she started screaming and crying and started to call the police”.
The prosecution suggested Rumiantsev was trying to apply “emotional blackmail” to the woman in a letter he wrote about her witness statement to her after his arrest.
He said: “I thought that I was maybe naive in the fact that I was not able to calm her down or find the right words for her – (and that was) the reason I deserved this.
“I was completely shocked. I could never imagine me going to prison.”
He added: “My mistake was possibly answering the telephone, after which she completely went out of her mind.”
Ms Gates clarified this was “when you answered the call and showed her face to Barron Trump”?
Rumiantsev replied: “Yes.”
The trial continues.
