Chinese woman arrested at Mar-a-Lago to remain in jail

Photo: Pixabay

April 9 (UPI) — A Chinese woman arrested last week for allegedly conning her way into President Donald Trump‘s Florida resort will remain in police custody for at least another week.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Matthewman ordered Yujing Zhang, 32, to remain in jail until next Monday’s hearing after prosecutors said, “she lies to everyone.”

She faces federal charges of lying to a federal agent and entering a restricted property. Monday’s detention hearing was held in the Florida courtroom to determine whether she should be released on bond.

Prosecutors argued against her release, stating she’s a flight risk.

“She lies to everyone she encounters,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia said, adding, “her ties are all in China,” CNN reported.

Garcia said Zhang doesn’t yet face any espionage charges, so there are more questions that need to be answered.

The FBI is still investigating whether she is a spy, CBS News reported.

Zhang’s defense lawyer, Robert Adler, countered that she had paid businessman Charles Lee $20,000 for admittance to Mar-a-Lago for an event.

Adler showed the court a flyer advertising an event with a name similar to a group Lee runs called the United Nations Chinese Friendship Association.

In the court documents, Secret Service agents said there was no such event scheduled that night, despite Zhang’s claim she entered Mar-a-Lago in order to take pictures and become familiar with the location prior to the event’s opening later that day.

The court hearing comes on the same day as news broke that the Trump administration plans to remove Randolph “Tex” Alles as director of the Secret Service.

An unnamed source told NBC News that the decision to pursue Alles’s resignation was made prior to this incident and is not connected to Zhang’s breach of Secret Service security.

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