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MINNEAPOLIS — For days, Luis Ramirez had an uneasy feeling about the men dressed as utility workers he’d seen outside his family’s Mexican restaurant in suburban Minneapolis.

They wore high-visibility vests and spotless white hard hats, he noticed, even while parked in their vehicle. His search for the Wisconsin-based electrician advertised on the car’s doors returned no results.

On Tuesday, when their Nissan returned to the lot outside his restaurant, Ramirez, 31, filmed his confrontation with the two men, who hide their faces as he approaches and appear to be wearing heavy tactical gear beneath their yellow vests.

“This is what our taxpayer money goes to: renting these vehicles with fake tags to come sit here and watch my business,” Ramirez shouts in the video.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to inquiries about whether the men were federal immigration officers. But encounters like Ramirez’s have become increasingly common.

As the sweeping immigration crackdown in Minnesota continues, legal observers and officials say they have received a growing number of reports of federal agents impersonating construction workers, delivery drivers and, in some cases, anti-ICE activists.

Not all of those incidents have been verified, but they have heightened fears in a state already on edge, adding to legal groups’ concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.

“If you have people afraid that the electrical worker outside their house might be ICE, you’re inviting public distrust and confusion on a much more dangerous level,” said Naureen Shah, the director of immigration advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union. “This is what you do if you’re trying to control a populace, not trying to do routine, professional law enforcement.”

A ‘more extreme degree’ of deception

In the past, immigration authorities have sometimes used disguises and other deceptions, which they call ruses, to gain entry into homes without a warrant.

The tactics became more common during President Trump’s first term, attorneys said, prompting an ACLU lawsuit accusing immigration agents of violating the Constitution by posing as local law enforcement during home raids. A recent settlement restricted the practice in Los Angeles. But ICE deceptions remain legal elsewhere in the country.

Still, the undercover operations reported in Minnesota would appear to be a “more extreme degree than we’ve seen in the past,” said Shah, in part because they seem to be happening in plain sight.

Where past ruses were aimed at deceiving immigration targets, the current tactics may also be a response to Minnesota’s sprawling networks of citizen observers that have sought to call attention to federal agents before they make arrests.

At the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the city’s central hub of ICE activity, activists told the Associated Press they had seen agents leaving in vehicles with stuffed animals on their dashboards or Mexican flag decals on their bumpers. Pickups with lumber or tools in their beds were also frequently spotted.

In recent weeks, federal agents have repeatedly shown up to construction sites dressed as workers, according to Jose Alvillar, a lead organizer for the local immigrant rights group, Unidos MN.

“We’ve seen an increase in the cowboy tactics,” he said, though he noted the raids had not resulted in arrests. “Construction workers are good at identifying who is a real construction worker and who is dressing up as one.”

Using vintage plates

Since the start of the operation in Minnesota, local officials, including Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, have said ICE agents had been seen swapping license plates or using bogus ones, a violation of state law.

Candice Metrailer, an antiques dealer in south Minneapolis, believes she witnessed such an attempt firsthand.

On Jan. 13, she received a call from a man who identified himself as a collector, asking if her store sold license plates. She said it did. A few minutes later, two men in street clothes entered the shop and began looking through her collection of vintage plates.

“One of them says, ‘Hey, do you have any recent ones?’” Metrailer recalled. “Immediately, an alarm bell went off in my head.”

Metrailer stepped outside while the men continued browsing. A few doors down from the shop, she saw an idling Ford Explorer with blacked-out windows. She memorized its license plate, then quickly plugged it into a crowdsourced database used by local activists to track vehicles linked to immigration enforcement.

The database shows an identical Ford with the same plates had been photographed leaving the Whipple building seven times and reported at the scene of an immigration arrest weeks earlier.

When one of the men approached the register holding a white Minnesota plate, Metrailer said she told him that the store had a new policy against selling the items.

Metrailer said she had reported the incident to Minnesota’s attorney general. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

A response to obstruction

Supporters of the immigration crackdown say the volunteer army of ICE-tracking activists in Minneapolis has forced federal agents to adopt new methods of avoiding detection.

“Of course agents are adapting their tactics so that they’re a step ahead,” said Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director of ICE enforcement and operations in New York City. “We’ve never seen this level of obstruction and interference.”

In nearly three decades in immigration enforcement, Mechkowski said he also hadn’t seen ICE agents disguising themselves as uniformed workers in the course of making arrests.

Last summer, a Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed a man wearing a high-visibility construction vest was an ICE agent conducting surveillance. In Oregon, a natural gas company published guidance on how customers could identify their employees after reports of federal impersonators.

In the days since his encounter, Ramirez, the restaurant worker, said he has been on high alert for undercover agents. He recently stopped a locksmith who he feared might be a federal agent, before realizing he was a local resident.

“Everybody is on edge about these guys, man,” Ramirez said. “It feels like they’re everywhere.”

Offenhartz writes for the Associated Press.

Israeli warplanes conducted more than 50 raids on Lebanon last month amid major surge in attacks, says refugee rights NGO.

Israel is carrying out a “clear and dangerous” surge in air attacks on Lebanon, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has said, with its warplanes conducting more attacks on its neighbour in January than in any previous month since the ceasefire.

The humanitarian organisation said on Thursday that Israeli warplanes had carried out at least 50 air raids on Lebanon last month – about double the number of the previous month.

The group said the repeated attacks made a mockery of the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon in November 2024, after more than a year of cross-border attacks and a two-month-long Israeli intensification that killed thousands in Lebanon and devastated civilian infrastructure.

“These attacks – as well as the many ground incursions that continue to happen away from the cameras – have deemed the ceasefire agreement little more than ink on paper,” said Maureen Philippon, NRC’s country director in Lebanon.

The data, provided to the NRC by security company Atlas Assistance, captures only attacks carried out by manned Israeli warplanes and does not include Israeli drone attacks, which regularly result in deaths in Lebanon, or attacks carried out during Israeli ground incursions.

The Israeli attacks have continued in recent days. On Monday, Israeli warplanes targeted buildings in two villages in southern Lebanon, Kfar Tebnit and Ain Qana, after issuing evacuation orders to residents.

Israel’s military claimed the buildings were Hezbollah “military infrastructure” and said it was targeting them in response to what it said were the group’s prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the area.

On Wednesday, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of committing an environmental crime after Israeli aircraft sprayed an unknown substance over southern Lebanese towns.

Death and displacement

The NRC said the ongoing attacks have created a climate of fear and instability for residents and were hampering much-needed reconstruction efforts, in a country still reeling from the effects of the conflict with Israel before the ceasefire.

The attacks have struck targets in dozens of cities and villages in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, destroying homes and displacing families in an environment where approximately 64,000 people have already been displaced by the conflict.

“Aid agencies, including NRC, are still dealing with the aftermath and consequences of months of destructive conflict which left much of Lebanon in ruins,” said Philippon.

She said the effect of the attacks was being felt by families and children, citing a school in west Bekaa that had recently been repaired by her organisation, only to be damaged again in a recent attack in the area.

“This means yet another spell of interrupted education for children,” she said.

Philippon called on Israel’s allies to do “everything they can to stop these attacks on civilian areas and villages”.

“This vicious cycle has to end,” she added.

‘Thousands’ of breaches

Under the terms of the November 2024 ceasefire, cross-border attacks were supposed to stop; Hezbollah was to withdraw north of the Litani River, which runs across south Lebanon; and Israel was to withdraw troops that had invaded south Lebanon in October.

Israel, however, has continued its attacks across the south and the Bekaa Valley in the east on a near-daily basis, while its army continues to occupy five points in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese government says Israel has committed thousands of breaches of the ceasefire agreement.

Hezbollah has launched only one attack in the 14 months since the ceasefire, while Israel has killed more than 330 people in Lebanon, including at least 127 civilians, and a top Hezbollah commander, Haytham Ali Tabatabai.

For nearly two months, Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly denied that she was involved in altering an after-action report on the Palisades fire to downplay failures by the city and the Los Angeles Fire Department in combating the catastrophic blaze.

But two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office said that after receiving an early draft, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could expose the city to legal liabilities for those failures. Bass wanted key findings about the LAFD’s actions removed or softened before the report was made public, the sources said — and that is what happened.

The changes to the report, which was released on Oct. 8, came to light through a Times investigation published in December.

The sources told The Times that two people close to Bass informed them of the mayor’s behind-the-scenes role in watering down the report. One source spoke to both of the people; the other spoke to one of them. The sources requested anonymity to speak frankly about the mayor’s private conversations with Villanueva and others. The Times is not naming the people who are close to Bass because that could have the effect of identifying the sources.

One Bass confidant told one of the sources that “the mayor didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report.” The source said the confidant advised Bass that altering the report “was a bad idea” because it would hurt her politically.

According to the source, the two confidants said that Bass held onto the original draft until after the changes were made. The source added that both confidants said they are prepared to testify under oath to verify their accounts if the matter ends up in a legal proceeding.

Both sources said they did not know if Villanueva or anyone else in the LAFD or in the mayor’s office made line-by-line edits at Bass’ specific instructions, or if they imposed the changes after receiving a general direction from her.

“All the changes [The Times] reported on were the ones Karen wanted,” the second source said, referring primarily to the newspaper’s determination that the report was altered to deflect attention from the LAFD’s failure to pre-deploy crews to the Palisades before the fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,000 homes and other structures, amid forecasts of catastrophically high winds.

Bass did not respond this week to a request for comment for this article.

The mayor has previously rejected several requests by The Times to be interviewed about the report. In response to written questions, a spokesperson for Bass’ office said in an email in December: “The report was written and edited by the Fire Department. We did not red-line, review every page or review every draft of the report.”

The spokesperson, Clara Karger, said the mayor’s office asked only that the LAFD fact-check any findings regarding the effect of city finances and high-wind forecasts on the department’s performance in the fire.

In a brief interview last month, Bass told The Times that she did not work with the Fire Department on changes to the report, nor did the agency consult her about any changes.

“The only thing that I told them to do was I told them to talk to Matt Szabo about the budget and the funding, and that was it,” she said, referring to the city’s administrative officer. “That’s a technical report. I’m not a firefighter.”

Villanueva declined to comment. He has made no public statements about the after-action report or any conversations he might have had with Bass about it.

After admitting that the report was altered in places so as not to reflect poorly on top commanders, Fire Chief Jaime Moore said last month that he did not plan to determine who was responsible, adding that he did not see the benefit of doing that.

In an interview last month, Fire Commission President Genethia Hudley Hayes said Villanueva told her in mid-August or later that a draft of the report was sent to the mayor’s office for “refinements.” Hudley Hayes said she did not know what the refinements were, but she was concerned enough to consult a deputy city attorney about possible changes to the report.

Hudley Hayes, who was appointed by Bass, said that after reviewing an early draft of the report as well as the final document, she was satisfied that “material findings” were not altered.

But the changes to the after-action report, which was meant to spell out mistakes and suggest measures to avoid repeating them after the worst fire in city history, were significant, with some Palisades residents and former LAFD chiefs saying they amounted to a “cover-up.”

A week after the Jan. 7, 2025, fire, The Times exposed LAFD officials’ decisions not to fully staff up and pre-deploy all available engines and firefighters to the Palisades or other high-risk areas ahead of the dangerous winds. Bass later ousted Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, citing the failure to keep firefighters on duty for a second shift.

An initial draft of the after-action report said the pre-deployment decisions “did not align” with policy, while the final version said the number of companies pre-deployed “went above and beyond the standard LAFD pre-deployment matrix.”

The author of the report, Battalion Chief Kenneth Cook, declined to endorse the final version because of changes that altered his findings and made the report, in his words, “highly unprofessional and inconsistent with our established standards.”

Before the report was released, the LAFD formed an internal crisis management team and brought in a public relations firm to help shape its messaging about the fire, though it’s unclear what role each played, if any, in editing the report.

Moore, an LAFD veteran whom Bass named as chief in November, said he is focused on the future and not interested in assigning blame for changes to the report. But he said he will not allow similar edits to future after-action reports.

Asked last month how he would handle a mayor’s request for similar changes, he said: “That’s very easy, I’d just say absolutely not. We don’t do that.”

The after-action report included just a brief reference to the Lachman fire, a small Jan. 1, 2025, blaze that rekindled six days later into the Palisades fire.

The Times found that a battalion chief ordered firefighters to roll up their hoses and leave the Lachman burn area the day after the fire was supposedly extinguished, despite complaints by crew members that the ground still was smoldering. The Times reviewed text messages among firefighters and a third party, sent in the weeks and months after the fire, describing the crew’s concerns, and reported that at least one battalion chief assigned to the LAFD’s risk management section knew about them for months.

After the Times report, Bass directed Moore to commission an independent investigation into the LAFD’s handling of the Lachman fire.

LAFD officials said Tuesday that most of the 42 recommendations in the after-action report have been implemented, including mandatory staffing protocols on red flag days and training on wind-driven fires, tactical operations and evacuations.

Pringle is a former Times staff writer.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday signed off on a plan to give financial relief to Palisades fire victims who are seeking to rebuild, endorsing it nearly 10 months after Mayor Karen Bass first announced it.

On a 15-0 vote, the council instructed the city’s lawyers to draft an ordinance that would spare the owners of homes, duplexes, condominium units, apartment complexes and commercial buildings from having to pay the permit fees that are typically charged by the Department of Building and Safety during the recovery.

Forfeiting those fees is expected to cost as much as $90 million over three years, according to Matt Szabo, the city’s top budget analyst.

The vote came at a time of heightened anxiety over the pace of the city’s decisions on the recovery among fire victims. Bart Young, whose home was destroyed in the fire, told council members his insurance company will cover only half the cost of rebuilding.

“I’m living on Social Security. I’ve lost everything,” he said. “I’m not asking for special treatment. I’m asking for something fair and with some compassion.”

The ordinance must come back for another council vote later this year. Councilmember Traci Park, who pushed for the financial relief, described the vote as a “meaningful step forward in the recovery process.”

“Waiving these fees isn’t the end of a long road, but it removes a real barrier for families trying to rebuild — and it brings us closer to getting people home,” she said in a statement.

Bass announced her support for the permit fee waivers in April as part of her State of the City address. Soon afterward, she signed a pair of emergency orders instructing city building officials to suspend those fees while the council works out the details of a new permit relief program.

That effort stalled, with some on the council saying they feared the relief program would pull funding away from core city services. In October, the council’s budget committee took steps to scale back the relief program.

That move sparked outrage among Palisades fire victims, who demanded that the council reverse course. Last month, Szabo reworked the numbers, concluding that the city was financially capable of covering all types of buildings, not just single-family homes and duplexes.

Fire victims have spent several months voicing frustration over the pace of the recovery and the city’s role in that effort.

Last week, the council declined to put a measure on the June 2 ballot that would spare fire victims from paying the city’s so-called mansion tax — which is levied on property sales of $5.3 million and up — if they choose to put their burned-out properties on the market.

Bass and other elected officials have not released a package of consulting reports on the recovery that were due to the city in mid-November from AECOM, the global engineering firm.

AECOM is on track to receive $5 million to produce reports on the rebuilding of city infrastructure, fire protection and traffic management during the recovery. The council voted in December to instruct city agencies to produce those reports within 30 days.

Bass spokesperson Paige Sterling said the AECOM reports are being reviewed by the city attorney’s office and will be released by the end of next week. The mayor, for her part, said Monday that the city has “expedited the entire rebuilding process without compromising safety.”

More than 480 rebuilding projects are currently under construction in the Palisades, out of about 5,600, the mayor’s team said. Permits have been issued for more than 800 separate addresses, according to the city’s online tracker.

The council’s vote coincides with growing antagonism between the Trump administration and state and local elected officials over the recovery.

Last week, President Trump signed an executive order saying wildfire victims should not have to deal with “unnecessary, duplicative, or obstructive” permitting requirements when rebuilding their homes. On Tuesday, the county supervisors authorized their lawyers to take legal action to block the order if necessary.

Lee Zeldin, Trump’s administrator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, is scheduled to meet Wednesday with Bass and LA. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger in Pacific Palisades to discuss the pace of the recovery. He is also set to hold a news conference with Palisades residents to discuss the roadblocks they are facing in the rebuilding effort.

James Harden has played a key role in helping the Clippers become one of the NBA’s hottest teams over the last six weeks despite a disastrous start to their season. He may not be around, however, to see how the rest of the season unfolds.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that Harden and the Clippers working to find a suitable deal that would send him to another team by Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.

Many of those reports mention a possible trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, swapping Harden in exchange for guard Darius Garland. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated described discussions between the two teams as “advanced.”

The Clippers play the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Wednesday.

Harden, 36, had 25 points and nine assists in 34 minutes during the Clippers’ 122-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday but has not played in the team’s two games since. The Clippers have attributed Harden’s absence to personal reasons.

The trade reports involving Harden broke Monday during the Clippers’ 128-113 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Crypto.com Arena. Coach Tyronn Lue was asked about the matter during his news conference after the game.

“I can’t comment on rumors,” Lue said. “Sorry.”

After the game, Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard told Joey Linn of Linn Sports media he was surprised by the Harden reports.

“I respect his decision or whoever’s decision it is, and that’s it,” Leonard said. “I mean, he’s still gonna be my boy and, you know, I trust the front office.”

Clippers forward John Collins called the news “shocking.” Asked by Linn if he would be disappointed to see Harden leave at this point in the season, Collins answered, “Hell yeah.”

Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reports that Harden initiated the trade talks and “the Clippers were stunned to find out about him wanting out.” The two sides have been discussing a possible parting for weeks, according to Siegel.

This past offseason, Harden signed a two-year, $81-million deal to remain with the Clippers. The second year was said to be a player option and is partially guaranteed. Harden has the power to veto any trade, according to ESPN.

Harden is an 11-time All-Star who was named the league MVP in 2018. He has played for five teams, including the Clippers since 2023, and is averaging 25.4 points, 8.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds in his 17th NBA season.

Garland is a 26-year-old two-time All Star who has averaged 18.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 6.7 assists during his seven NBA seasons. His contract expires in the summer of 2028. He has not played since Jan. 14 because of a Grade 1 sprain of his right big toe.

The Clippers were 6-21 after a 122-101 loss to Oklahoma City on Dec. 18. Since then, however, they have won 17 of 22 games to pull into a potential play-in spot (ninth place) in the Western Conference playoff standings.

Lue was asked Monday if Harden was someone he would like to continue to have on the team for a possible playoff run and beyond.

“Who wouldn’t want to have James Harden?” Lue said.

Bill Belichick isn’t the only key figure from the New England Patriots dynasty who won’t be getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.

Team owner Robert Kraft also failed to receive enough votes to be included in the Class of 2026, according to multiple media outlets. The inductees will be announced Thursday night at the NFL Honors ceremony in San Francisco.

Kraft was among the many people who expressed disbelief last week when the news surfaced that Belichick, who coached the Patriots to six Super Bowl victories and nine appearances in the NFL’s championship game, would not be entering the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

“Whatever perceptions may exist about any personal differences between Bill and me, I strongly believe Bill Belichick’s record and body of work speak for themselves,” Kraft said in a statement.

“He is the greatest coach of all time,” he added, “and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.”

Belichick and Kraft were part of a pool of candidates separate from that of the modern-era players. Belichick was this year’s finalist in the coaches category, while Kraft was the finalist in the contributors category. Three former players — Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood — were selected as finalists in the seniors category.

The 50 members of the Hall’s selection committee were allowed to vote for up to three of those five finalists. A maximum of three of those finalists can make it into the Hall by receiving at least 80% of the votes. If none of them gets 80%, then the person receiving the most votes makes the cut.

Kraft was first nominated for the Hall of Fame in 2013 and was a finalist for the first time this year. He has made it to the Super Bowl 11 times since buying the Patriots in 1994, more than any team owner in NFL history.

While Kraft may not have his name announced as a Hall of Famer this week, he could be getting a pretty decent consolation prize days later — if coach Mike Vrabel, quarterback Drake Maye and the rest of the current Patriots bring home the Lombardi Trophy by beating the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX.

Cheers broke out during Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo’s live report as a Syrian military convoy reached the town square of Tel Brak in northern Syria. It’s part of the nationwide unification of Syria after the central government reached a deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

SEOUL, Feb. 3 (UPI) — Hundreds of North Korean soldiers were seen practicing marching formations in preparation for a possible military parade ahead of the country’s long-anticipated Ninth Party Congress, according to a new report.

Recent commercial satellite imagery shows large formations of troops conducting drills at the Mirim Parade Training Ground in east Pyongyang, analysts at the Stimson Center-based 38 North said in an assessment published Monday.

The activity is “likely in preparation for a parade to mark the upcoming Ninth Party Congress,” the report said.

Imagery shows soldiers arranging themselves into shapes resembling the hammer, sickle and brush, the emblem of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

The party congress, held every five years, is where North Korea sets its domestic and foreign policy agenda. Leader Kim Jong Un is expected to unveil a new plan guiding political, economic and military priorities through 2031, the 38 North report noted.

While the official date for the Ninth Party Congress has not been announced, South Korean government officials and the National Intelligence Service have said they expect it to take place in early to mid-February.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday it has detected signs of parade preparations at the Mirim Airfield and Kim Il Sung Square, where similar events have been held in the past.

“It’s not yet clear whether a military parade will take place,” JCS spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun said in a press briefing. “As I understand, preparations are currently being made as a civilian event.”

The apparent parade preparations come amid a string of public appearances by Kim Jong Un that underscore the regime’s push to demonstrate progress ahead of the congress.

Last week, Kim attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a regional development project in Unnyul County, part of a broader effort to modernize local industry and infrastructure. He has also intensified on-site inspections, recently dismissing a vice premier over construction delays at a major machinery plant.

A report by the state-funded Korea Institute for National Unification said the firing suggests the regime may be under mounting pressure to show tangible economic results, as sanctions and chronic shortages continue to constrain growth.

Military signaling has remained prominent as well. In late January, Kim oversaw the test-firing of an upgraded large-caliber multiple rocket launcher system and said plans to further bolster the country’s nuclear deterrent would be detailed at the congress.

Against that backdrop, 38 North said the timing of the congress could be influenced by whether Pyongyang plans additional public events ahead of the gathering.

“If there are more economic projects to showcase or weapons to test before the Party Congress commences, the event could take longer to open,” the report said.

LONDON — The crime was in London, the suspect was Russian and the witness who saw the beating on a video call was in the United States and happened to be the youngest son of President Trump.

Barron Trump called police in the British capital and his intervention more than a year ago led Wednesday to the assault conviction of Matvei Rumiantsev, who admitted he was jealous of his girlfriend’s friendship with Trump.

Trump said he placed a late night FaceTime call to the victim, a woman he met on social media, and was startled when it was answered by a bare-chested man.

“This view lasted maybe one second and I was racing with adrenaline,” Trump told police. “The camera was then flipped to the victim getting hit while crying, stating something in Russian.”

The call was hung up after a few seconds and Trump then phoned London police in a recording in which Trump desperately pleaded for help as the dispatcher insisted he answer basic questions about the victim.

“How do you know her?” the operator asked after a back-and-forth dialog.

“I don’t think these details matter, she’s getting beat up,” Trump said.

“Can you stop being rude and actually answer my questions?” the dispatcher said. “If you want to help the person, you’ll answer my questions clearly and precisely, thank you. So how do you know her?”

Police went to the address on Jan. 18 and arrested Rumiantsev, 22, a receptionist who lived in London.

He was acquitted in Snaresbrook Crown Court of rape and choking the woman on the night Trump called police, and an additional rape and assault alleged in November 2024.

Rumiantsev testified that he was jealous of Trump but that he also felt badly for him because he thought that his girlfriend was leading him on.

Defense lawyer Sasha Wass said that Trump didn’t know the woman had a boyfriend and questioned how much he could have seen in five or seven seconds of video.

Wass said that the woman exploited her ties to Trump to make her boyfriend envious in a “relationship full of dramas.”

Trump, 19, the only child of Donald and Melania Trump, didn’t testify in the case.

Justice Bennathan advised jurors before they began deliberating to treat Barron Trump’s accounts — on the recording of his call to police and his follow-up email to investigators — with caution because he hadn’t been subjected to cross-examination.

“If he had done so, no doubt, he could have been asked about things such as whether he ever got a good view of what happened, whether he actually saw (the woman) being assaulted, or jumped to this conclusion on the basis of her screams,” Bennathan said. “He might also have been asked whether his perception was biased because he was close friends with (her).”

Rumiantsev was also convicted of perverting the course of justice, because he sent the woman a letter from jail asking her to retract her allegations. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on March 27.

Melley writes for the Associated Press.