The Chinese woman who was arrested after gaining entry to President Trump’s private club while carrying four cellphones and other electronic equipment had even more electronics in her hotel room, including a device used to detect hidden cameras, a federal prosecutor said Monday.
The woman, Yujing Zhang, who was born in 1986, was arrested March 30 after telling Secret Service agents that she had come to use the pool at Mar-a-Lago and showing two Chinese passports. After authorities determined that the event she said she had come to attend did not exist, she was arrested and charged with lying to a federal officer and accessing a restricted area.
Zhang had entered the property with four cellphones, a hard drive, and a thumb drive infected with malware, according to federal court records. Upon searching her hotel room, investigators found another cellphone and a radio frequency device that detects hidden cameras, Assistant US Attorney Rolando Garcia said during a bond hearing at the US District Court in West Palm Beach on Monday.
She also had nine USB drives and five SIM cards in her room at the Colony Hotel, along with several debit cards and about $8,000 in cash, including about $700 in Chinese currency, Garcia said.
Garcia told US Magistrate Judge William Matthewman that Zhang is a “serious flight risk’’ because she “lies to everyone that she encounters.’’
She had initially told authorities at the club that she carried multiple phones to the resort because she was afraid to leave them in her hotel room, Garcia said. She had previously told the court in an appearance last week that she had only about $5,000 in the bank.
Zhang came to the United States on March 28 from Shanghai on a B-1 visa that has been revoked, meaning that if the court does release her from jail pending trial, she would be transferred to immigration custody, Garcia said.
Zhang’s assistant federal public defender, Robert Adler, said in the court hearing that Zhang did not attempt to hide the four cellphones when she entered the club. He stressed to the judge that she is not charged with espionage.
The Secret Service agent who questioned Zhang after her arrest, Samuel Ivanovich, said during testimony that she did not carry any lock-picking or eavesdropping gear. His 4½-hour interrogation of Zhang was recorded by video, Ivanovich said, but it lacked sound because he didn’t realize that the agency’s office in Palm Beach didn’t have that capability.
The judge postponed a decision on whether to release her on bond until next week, to give the defense time to bring people from China who could support Zhang’s story.
New York Times
Top Judiciary Republican urges Mueller testimony
The top-ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is urging that Special Counsel Robert Mueller be called to testify before the panel this month.
Representative Douglas Collins, Republican of Georgia, in a letter Monday to House Judiciary chairman Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, said that he would like to see Mueller testify during the week of April 22, calling it ‘‘undoubtedly the best way’’ for the American people to learn about ‘‘the full contours’’ of the investigation into Russian election interference in 2016.
Last week, the Democrat-led committee voted to authorize Nadler to subpoena the full report and underlying documents produced by Mueller during his investigation into whether the Trump campaign and Russia coordinated during the presidential election and whether Trump sought to obstruct the probe.
According to a four-page summary of top-line findings of Mueller’s report provided to Congress by Attorney General William Barr, Trump and his campaign did not illegally coordinate with Russia, but Mueller left open the question of whether Trump obstructed justice. Barr said he concluded that Trump did not commit obstruction.
Nadler went on Twitter later Monday to say he agrees that Mueller should appear before the committee but that the committee needs to see the full report and hear from Barr first in order ‘‘to ask Special Counsel Mueller the right questions.’’
‘‘We look forward to hearing from Mr. Mueller at the appropriate time,’’ Nadler said.
Nadler is seeking to bring Barr before the committee to explain his conclusions but has not ruled out calling Mueller later. Democrats are increasingly questioning whether Barr, a Trump appointee, was a neutral arbiter on what transpired.
Washington Post
Maine woman charged with sending letter to Collins
A Maine woman appeared in court on Monday to face federal charges of mailing a threatening letter to the home of US Senator Susan Collins last year.
An affidavit filed in US District Court in Bangor said Suzanne Muscara, 37, of Burlington, mailed starch to the Republican senator’s Bangor home along with a note reading: ‘‘AnthRAX!!! HA HA HA!!!’’ The letter also included a threatening drawing of a stick figure with the letter X for eyes and an arrow pointing at its face.
The mail was intercepted at a postal mail sorting facility in Hampden, Maine, triggering an investigation. Muscara was arrested Friday.
According to court documents, Muscara told federal authorities she thought law enforcement would catch the letter before it reached Collins’s home and that it wouldn’t be taken seriously, WABI-TV reported. It was not clear whether Muscara had a lawyer who could comment on her behalf.
The mailing came after Collins cast a key vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and shortly after she received another threatening letter at home that was addressed to her husband.
Muscara is expected to return to court next week. She faces up to 10 years in prison.
Associated Press
Trump resists Democrats’ push for report, tax returns
President Trump went on Twitter Monday morning to cite recent comments from conservative lawmakers and pundits as he continued to air grievances about efforts of congressional Democrats to obtain the full special counsel report and his tax returns.
In a series of tweets, Trump — who until recently had said he had no problem with the release of the full report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election — cited the views of commentators questioning whether Democrats should have access to it and claiming that they were trying to weaken Trump politically.
In one tweet, Trump quoted Katie Pavlich, editor of Townhall.com, saying that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., was ‘‘not entitled’’ to the full report and underlying documents produced by Mueller, who investigated whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia in 2016 and whether Trump sought to obstruct the probe.
In another tweet Monday, Trump quoted Charles Hurt, the opinion editor of the Washington Times, saying Democrats ‘‘made up this complete lie about Collusion.’’
‘‘The Russian Hoax never happened, it was a fraud on the American people!’’ Trump added in his own words.
The president also pushed back against efforts by the Democratic-led Ways and Means Committee to obtain six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service.
In one instance, Trump retweeted Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a frequent ally and the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, saying that ‘‘Dems want President’s tax returns for purely political purposes!’’
Trump also tweeted a C-SPAN clip in which Jordan defended Trump’s pledge to fight releasing his tax returns during an interview.
Trump’s tweets Monday came a day after his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, said that Democrats will ‘‘never’’ see the president’s tax returns, abandoning Trump’s long-held position that he would someday release the documents for public inspection.
Washington Post