Chinese Mar-a-Lago intruder Zhang Yujing ‘playing games with the court’, US judge says, as she refuses to answer questions out loud
- Defendant accused of being intentionally difficult after judge is forced to describe her nods or smiles for the record
- Trial pushed back to September after Zhang, who is representing herself, misses deadline to file documents
The Chinese woman arrested in March trying to enter Mar-a-Lago with a trove of electronics appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale briefly on Tuesday, where a judge accused her of being intentionally difficult when she refused to answer his questions out loud.
“The defendant has decided that she wants to play games with the court,” said US District Judge Roy Altman. On several occasions Altman was forced to describe Zhang Yujing’s nods or smiles into the record when she refused to answer.
Zhang, 33, was indicted on charges of trespassing and lying to a federal agent, charges that carry maximum sentences of one and five years respectively. She pleaded not guilty.
On Tuesday, US Attorney Rolando Garcia told the court that federal prosecutors were prepared to go to trial against Zhang next week.
However, Zhang, who has been representing herself since firing her public defenders on June 11, did not realise she had to file documents such as jury instructions and an evidence list by Tuesday’s deadline.
