When an agency analyst uploaded the malware found on Zhang’s
thumb drive, it immediately began installing on the analyst’s
computer and corrupting its files.
“That was something that had never happened before,”
Ivanovich told the judge. He said the analyst immediately
shut down the computer to protect it.
Attorney: Mar-a-Lago infiltrator
had hidden-camera detector
POSTED 4:12 PM, APRIL 8, 2019, BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
PALM BEACH, FL - JANUARY 11: The Atlantic Ocean is seen adjacent to President Donald Trump's beach front Mar-a-Lago resort, also sometimes called his Winter White House, the day after Florida received an exemption from the Trump Administration's newly announced ocean drilling plan on January 11, 2018 in Palm Beach, Florida. Florida was the only state to receive an exemption from the announced deregulation plan to allow offshore oil and gas drilling in all previously protected waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Chinese woman recently arrested at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club lied repeatedly to Secret Service agents while carrying computer malware unlike anything a government analyst had ever seen and had more than $8,000 in cash at her hotel room, along with an electronic device that detects hidden cameras, federal authorities told a judge Monday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia told Magistrate Judge William Matthewman during a bond hearing that “there are a lot of questions that remain” about 32-year-old Yujing Zhang
He said the FBI is still investigating whether Zhang is a spy.
Zhang was arrested March 30 after Secret Service agents said she lied to gain admission to the president’s Palm Beach resort and was found to be carrying two Chinese passports, four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive containing the malware.
Matthewman adjourned the hearing until next Monday as Zhang’s public defender said he’s still gathering evidence that could justify her release on bail on charges of lying to federal agents and illegal entry to a restricted area. Garcia said he expects Zhang will be indicted by a federal grand jury this week on those charges.
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Mar-a-Lago arrest spotlights security risks at Trump estate
He said Zhang would be a “serious risk of flight” if she were released while awaiting trial, as she has no ties to the United States. The State Department revoked her visa last week, he said, so even if released on bond, she would be detained by immigration officials. She arrived in the U.S. on a flight from Shanghai to Newark, New Jersey, two days before her arrest.
Zhang sat quietly at the defense table during the two-hour hearing, scribbling notes in Chinese characters as she listened to a translator through headphones. She wore a blue jail jumpsuit and her wrists were shackled.
“She lies to everyone she encounters,” Garcia told the judge. He said that not only did Zhang falsely tell a Secret Service agent at a Mar-a-Lago checkpoint that she was a member there to use the pool, even though she had no swimsuit, she told agents she was carrying her computer gear because she was afraid the items would be stolen if she left them in her hotel room.
But when agents searched it, they found $7,620 in U.S. currency, another $663 worth of Chinese currency, numerous U.S. credit and debit cards, the device used to find hidden electronics and other computer gear, he said.
Secret Service agent Samuel Ivanovich told the judge that when an agency analyst uploaded the malware found on Zhang’s thumb drive, it immediately began installing on the analyst’s computer and corrupting its files.
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Chinese woman carrying malware allegedly got into Mar-a-Lago
“That was something that had never happened before,” Ivanovich told the judge. He said the analyst immediately shut down the computer to protect it. He said the malware’s ultimate purpose remains unknown.
When agents analyze suspicious devices that might contain malicious software, it is done in a controlled environment and not performed on a computer connected to any government networks, according to Secret Service officials.
While questioning Ivanovich, public defender Robert Adler presented Zhang as not fluent in English and suggested she may not have been lying, but misunderstanding agents’ questions. He pointed out that Zhang made no attempt to hide her electronic gear while entering Mar-a-Lago and agreed to be interviewed for almost nine hours.
Adler asked that the hearing be adjourned as he believes he can prese
nt evidence next week that would justify her release on bail while assuring she wouldn’t flee.
Zhang’s arrest has raised questions about Mar-a-Lago’s security during the president’s visits. There’s no evidence Zhang ever approached the president and it is believed he was at his nearby golf course when she arrived.
谷歌同學譯文：
律師：Mar-a-Lago 滲透者有隱藏攝像頭探測器
發布於2019年4月8日下午4點12分，由美聯社發布
棕櫚灘，佛羅里達州 - 1月11日：在佛羅里達州獲得特朗普政府
新宣布的海洋鑽探豁免後的第二天，大西洋與總統唐納德特朗普
的海濱前Mar-a-Lago度假村相鄰，有時也被稱為冬季白宮。計劃
於2018年1月11日在佛羅里達州棕櫚灘舉行。佛羅里達州是唯一
一個獲得免除宣布的放鬆管制計劃的州，該計劃允許在以前受
保護的大西洋和太平洋海域進行海上石油和天然氣鑽探。
佛羅里達州西棕櫚灘 - 最近在總統唐納德特朗普的Mar-a-Lago俱樂
部被逮捕的一名中國女子在攜帶計算機惡意軟件時多次向特勤局
特工說謊，這與政府分析師所見過的不同，她的酒店現金超過
8,000美元聯邦當局周一告訴法官說，房間裡還有一個檢測隱藏
攝像頭的電子設備。
美國助理檢察官羅蘭多加西亞在一次債券聽證會上告訴地方法官
威廉馬修曼，關於32歲的張玉靜，“仍有很多疑問仍未解決”
他說聯邦調查局仍在調查張是否是間諜。
在特勤局經紀人說她謊稱要進入總統的棕櫚灘度假村並被發現
攜帶兩本中國護照，四部手機，一台筆記本電腦，外接硬盤和
一個裝有惡意軟件的拇指驅動器後，張某於3月30日被捕。
由於張的公設辯護人表示，他仍在收集證據，證明她可以證明她
因向聯邦特工撒謊和非法進入禁區而被保釋的理由。加西亞表示，
他預計張某本周將被聯邦大陪審團起訴。
Mar-a-Lago被捕突出了特朗普莊園的安全風險
他說，如果張女士在等待審判期間被釋放，那將是一個“嚴重的
逃亡風險”，因為她與美國沒有關係。他說，美國國務院上周撤銷
了她的簽證，所以即使獲得保釋金，她也會被移民官員拘留。她
在被捕前兩天從上海飛往新澤西州紐瓦克的航班抵達美國。
在兩小時的聽證會期間，張靜靜地坐在防守桌旁，用耳機聽翻譯
時，用中文寫下筆記。她穿着一件藍色的監獄連身衣，她的手腕
被戴了鐐銬。
“她對遇到的每個人說謊，”加西亞對法官說。他說不僅張某錯誤
地告訴Mar-a-Lago檢查站的特勤局特工說她是那裡的會員才使用
游泳池，即使她沒有泳衣，她告訴代理她帶着她的電腦裝備，
因為她如果她把物品放在酒店房間裡，他們會害怕這些物品會
被偷走。
但是當代理商搜索它時，他們發現美元貨幣為7,620美元，另有
價值663美元的中國貨幣，許多美國信用卡和借記卡，用於尋找
隱藏電子設備和其他電腦設備的設備，他說。
特勤局特工Samuel Ivanovich告訴法官，當一名機構分析師上傳張
的拇指驅動器上發現的惡意軟件時，它立即開始在分析師的計算機
上安裝並破壞其文件。
據稱攜帶惡意軟件的中國女人進入了Mar-a-Lago
“這是以前從未發生的事情，”伊萬諾維奇告訴法官。他說，分析師
立即關閉電腦以保護它。他說惡意軟件的最終目的仍然未知。
根據特勤局官員的說法，當代理商分析可能包含惡意軟件的可疑
設備時，它是在受控環境中完成的，而不是在連接到任何政府網絡
的計算機上進行的。
在向伊萬諾維奇提問時，公設辯護人羅伯特·阿德勒（Robert Adler）
表示，張英文不會說流利的英語，並建議她可能不會說謊，而是
誤解代理人的問題。他指出張在進入Mar-a-Lago時沒有試圖隱藏
她的電子裝備，並同意接受採訪近9個小時。
阿德勒要求聽證會休會，因為他認為他可以預告
下周有證據證明她獲准保釋，同時保證她不會逃跑。
在總統訪問期間，張的被捕引發了對Mar-a-Lago安全的質疑。沒有
證據表明張某曾接近過總統，據信當她到達時他就在附近的高爾夫
球場。
Agents say she wasn’t on the membership list, but a club manager thought Zhang was a member’s daughter. Agents say that when they asked Zhang if the member was her father, she did not answer definitively but they thought it might be a language barrier and admitted her. Zhang is a common Chinese name — about 7% of the country’s population carries it.
Ivanovich told the judge Zhang later told him she was there for a Chinese American event that didn’t exist, contradicting her checkpoint statement. She showed him an invitation in Chinese he could not read.
After being questioned for about 90 minutes at a property neighboring Mar-a-Lago, Zhang was taken to the local Secret Service office for questioning that lasted about seven hours. It was not recorded.
There, Ivanovich said, it became clear Zhang speaks and reads English well. He said Zhang said an acquaintance named “Charles” had invited her to the nonexistent event.
Adler said wire records show Zhang paid $20,000 in February to Charles Lee, a Chinese national, for admission to the event. Lee ran the United Nations Chinese Friendship Association and was photographed at least twice with Cindy Yang, a Republican donor and former Florida massage parlor owner. She recently made news after it was learned she was promising Chinese business leaders that her consulting firm could get them access to Mar-a-Lago and mingle with the president.
Yang previously owned a spa where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution.
