FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A woman carrying two Chinese passports and a device containing computer malware lied to Secret Service agents and briefly gained admission to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club over the weekend during his Florida visit, federal prosecutors allege in court documents.
Yujing Zhang, 32, approached a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint outside the Palm Beach club early Saturday afternoon and said she was a member who wanted to use the pool, court documents said. She showed the passports as identification.
Agents say she wasn’t on the membership list, but a club manager thought Zhang was the daughter of a member. 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’s story changed when she got inside, agents say, telling a front desk receptionist she was there to attend the United Nations Chinese American Association event scheduled for that evening. No such event was scheduled and agents were summoned.
CHICAGO — Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot was elected Chicago mayor on Tuesday, becoming the first black woman and first openly gay person to lead the nation’s third-largest city.
Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle, who served in the City Council for 19 years before becoming Cook County Board president.
Lightfoot promised to rid City Hall of corruption and help low-income and working-class people she said had been “left behind and ignored” by Chicago’s political ruling class. It was a message that resonated with voters weary of political scandal and insider deals, and who said the city’s leaders for too long have invested in downtown at the expense of neighborhoods.
Chicago will become the largest U.S. city to elect a black woman as mayor when Lightfoot is sworn in May 20.
Lightfoot, 56, has never been elected to public office. She and her wife have one daughter.
NEW YORK — A Florida man who pleaded guilty to sending pipe bombs to CNN and prominent critics of President Donald Trump says he thinks he was misunderstood at his guilty plea.
Cesar Sayoc said in a letter to a judge that was made public on Tuesday that it was never his intent to harm anyone.
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff asked prosecutors and defense lawyers whether Sayoc’s comments in his March 23 letter will impact a guilty plea he entered two weeks ago regarding the fall mailings. In an order, Rakoff gave lawyers a week to comment.
During the plea proceeding, Rakoff asked Sayoc if he knew the devices would hurt anyone.
In his handwritten letter, Sayoc said his lawyer told him to say yes.
— Wire reports