The Chinese woman accused of trespassing at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort can represent herself in court, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman ruled Tuesday.
Altman found Yujing Zhang, 33, to be competent after she requested to fire her public defenders and represent herself in late May.
Kristy Militello, one of the public defenders, wrote in a court filing last week that Zhang “politely declined” to be evaluated by a psychologist.
“It is the opinion of undersigned counsel that Ms. Zhang does not suffer from a mental disease or defect which would render her incompetent to proceed or ineligible to represent herself,” she wrote.
The judge tried to talk Zhang out of her decision, according to CBS, but she declined. Altman ordered Zhang be given law books and told her to study.
Zhang has struggled at times to comprehend the judge, though according to the criminal complaint, she conversed in English “without difficulty” with law enforcement after she was taken into custody.
She has pleaded not guilty to trespassing March 30 at the president’s Florida resort and lying to Secret Service agents about why she was at Mar-a-Lago. A judge denied her bail, saying she poses an “extreme risk of flight” if she is released from custody.
At the time of her arrest she was carrying two Chinese passports, four cellphones, a laptop, and a device containing malware. In a search of her hotel room, prosecutors said a device that could detect hidden cameras and more than $7,500 in cash were found.
Zhang originally told authorities she was at Mar-a-Lago to swim but later changed her story.
Zhang entered the United States legally on March 28, flying into Newark from Shanghai. Two days later she appeared at a Mar-a-Lago security checkpoint, telling security she was there to swim. Mar-a-Lago employees believed she was related to a member of the club and allowed her access to the property.
Shortly after she was asked by a receptionist why she was there. Zhang said she was there for “a United Nations Chinese American Association event later in the evening,” according to the criminal complaint, but the receptionist said there was no such event.
“She lies to everyone she encounters,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia said in April.
However, Garcia said there is “no allegation” Zhang was involved in “any espionage.”
