FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—A Chinese woman accused of trespassing at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and lying to Secret Service agents is frustrating the federal judge hearing her case as she ignores his questions and leaves him bewildered with her answers.
The woman, 33-year-old Yujing Zhang, is acting as her own attorney and faces up to six years in prison if convicted at her trial set to start in two weeks. But for the second straight pretrial hearing, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman accused Zhang on Aug. 20 of feigning ignorance and pleaded with her to work with her public defenders, whom she fired in May without explanation. He also ruled she will be tried by a jury after she refused to respond to a prosecution suggestion that Altman decide whether she is guilty.
