FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — The federal judge presiding over the case of a Chinese woman accused of trespassing at President Trump’s Florida resort, and making false statements about why she was there, questioned why prosecutors kept asking witnesses about the defendant’s demeanor.
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman asked for the reasoning behind the questions during the second day of 33-year-old Yujing Zhang’s trial on Tuesday.
“Demeanor is a metric of a person’s character and whether they have a reasonable belief or comfort level about whether they should or shouldn’t have been in a facility,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said.
Two Secret Service agents and a Mar-a-Lago receptionist testified in the first day and half of the trial that Zhang was “calm” in her interactions with them at the Palm Beach resort.
“How does the fact that she was comfortable further the government’s theory that she either purposefully told a false statement or was in a place where she did not belong?” Altman asked.
Sherwin said it shows Zhang was “not a wandering tourist that fell into this place by mistake.”
[Read: ‘A woman issue’: Mar-a-Lago tresspass trial starts with argument over underwear]
Prosecutors have sought to show Zhang was a calculated liar who proceeded with her plan to access Mar-a-Lago, despite numerous instances of people telling her an event she planned to attend had been canceled and that she could not go to the property without prior permission.
Prosecutors said Monday evening they planned to file more classified information under seal in the case, at least the third time they have done so, indicating they are building a national security case against Zhang. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia said in April there was “no allegation” that Zhang was involved in “any espionage” and no charges have been brought against her under the Espionage Act.
Zhang, who is representing herself despite frequent requests from the judge to reconsider using a public defender as counsel, has spoken little during the trial, sometimes objecting to evidence shown by prosecutors, but giving no explanation for the objection beyond “it’s sensitive.” All of her objections have been overruled.
Though the president was not at his resort at the time Zhang arrived, first lady Melania Trump and her son, Barron, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and their children, and Donald Trump Jr.’s children were at Mar-a-Lago, Secret Service agent Sam Ivanovich testified Tuesday.
Zhang did not have any weapons on her, Ivanovich said, but did have four cellphones and a laptop. Investigators found another cellphone, about $8,000 in cash, a device that can detect hidden cameras, five SIM cards, and nine USB drives in her hotel room, according to court documents.
Security at a Mar-a-Lago checkpoint believed Zhang was related to a member of the club and was there to swim when she arrived on March 30, allowing her to access the property. Zhang later told a receptionist she was there for a United Nations Chinese American Association event in the evening, but was told there was no such event.
Ivanovich said Zhang, who was wearing a grey evening gown in the middle of the day, said the woman later “became aggressive in nature” after she consented to a search of her electronics.
