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The possessions in Zhang's hotel included five SIM cards, nine USB drives, yet another cell phone, and a signal detector that could scan an area for hidden cameras, according to reports widely circulated Monday. In addition to the electronics, Zhang's hotel room also contained more than $8,000, with $7,500 of it in US $100 bills and $663 in Chinese currency, The Washington Post reported.
The details came to light at a bond hearing on Monday in a Florida federal court. There, a Secret Service agent testified that the malware Zhang carried was capable of infecting a computer as soon as the thumb drive was plugged in. According to a report published Monday by the Miami Herald:
Secret Service agent Samuel Ivanovich, who interviewed Zhang on the day of her arrest, testified at the hearing. He stated that when another agent put Zhang's thumb-drive into his computer, it immediately began to install files, a "very out-of-the-ordinary" event that he had never seen happen before during this kind of analysis. The agent had to immediately stop the analysis to halt any further corruption of his computer, Ivanovich said. The analysis is ongoing but still inconclusive, he testified.
The New York Times described the Secret Service's thumb drive analysis slightly differently. According to this report:
Mr. Ivanovich testified that the computer analyst who reviewed Ms. Zhang's devices said that the thumb drive she was carrying had immediately begun installing a program on his computer.
"He stated that he had to immediately stop the analysis and shut off his computer to halt the corruption," Mr. Ivanovich said.
Federal prosecutors argued during Monday's hearing that Zhang was a flight risk because she had no ties to the US and couldn't be trusted to tell the truth. "She lies to everyone she encounters," prosecutor Rolando Garcia told the court, according to CNN.
Zhang's federal public defender, Robert Adler, contented there was no evidence his client was a spy. "She did not have the type of devices that can be associated with espionage activities," Adler said, according to The Washington Post. Federal prosecutors said they have made no allegations Zhang was involved in espionage.
The 32-year-old woman was arrested last weekend after giving conflicting reasons for her visit to the president's club. She initially told a US Secret Service agent she was there to use the pool. A Mar-a-Lago security manager waved her past a security checkpoint after a "potential language-barrier issue" raised the possibility she was the daughter of a member who had the same last name. Once inside, Zhang allegedly told a receptionist she was there to attend a United Nations Chinese American Association event later that evening. After the receptionist confirmed no such event was scheduled to take place, Secret Service agents questioned her. They eventually arrested her on charges of lying to a federal officer and entering restricted property.
Monday's hearing raised yet another question about Secret Service security. Adler, the public defender representing Zhang, got agent Samuel Ivanovich to admit that "the agency that protects the president largely relied on Mar-a-Lago staff to determine whether to admit her, didn't see red flags in the devices she carried, and asked no further questions of Zhang once they believed she was related to another club member with the same last name - which is extremely common in China."
Expect more scrutiny of the event, the resulting investigation, and the lax policies that led to the breach to continue, possibly for months to come.
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