With classified filing, feds eye national security case against Mar-a-Lago intruder

Source: Miami Herald


BY JAY WEAVER AND SARAH BLASKEY
JUNE 12, 2019 03:32 PM, UPDATED 4 MINUTES AGO

Federal prosecutors disclosed this week they are developing a potential national security case against Yujing Zhang, the 33-year-old Chinese woman charged with unlawfully entering Mar-a-Lago with a stash of electronic equipment.

They asked a federal judge to allow them to file “classified information” under seal without the public — or the defendant — seeing it. If the motion is granted, prosecutors will present the evidence directly to the federal judge in Zhang’s trespassing case during a private, closed meeting in the judge’s chambers.

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The motion by a counterintelligence prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office suggests that authorities have relevant classified evidence that could pose a risk to national security should anyone — including Zhang — ever see it.

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On Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin asked U.S. District Judge Roy Altman to allow the government to seal the sensitive evidence in the Zhang case under Section 4 of the Classified Information Procedures Act. In a public notice to the judge, Sherwin indicated that he filed a “classified memorandum of law and motion” under seal to support his request. The law, designed to protect matters and methods of national security, allows the government to present evidence directly to the judge without disclosing it to the defendant or public.


Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article231465918.html