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From the Washington Free Beacon: A federal magistrate judge moved to release a Chinese national accused of taking covert drone shots of a military base in central California on cashless bail. That same judge once held former Trump administration education secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt of court, fined her $100,000, and threatened to send her to jail.
Sallie Kim, a former Stanford administrator, issued the ruling on Tuesday, court filings show. She determined that Chinese national Yinpiao Zhou should walk free on his own personal recognizance as federal prosecutors pursue charges against him for flying a hacked drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base. Federal agents arrested Zhou as he attempted to board a China-bound flight in San Francisco.
The decision appears to have raised eyebrows at the Department of Justice, which is appealing Kim’s order.
“Mr. Zhou made his initial appearance yesterday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco,” a department spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon in a statement provided late Wednesday. “United States Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim ordered him released on personal recognizance. Our office is appealing that ruling. Zhou remains in federal custody.”
The report explains that Kim was appointed as magistrate judge in 2015, and her current term will expire on July 29, 2031. When she was selected, 19 of the court’s 24 district judges were Democrat appointees, the Free Beacon writes.
Zhou, a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States, was caught on November 30 using a drone for over an hour to take aerial photos of Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, according to a press release from the Justice Department on Wednesday.
The Free Beacon points out the ironic comparison: that Kim was so eager to crack down on DeVos when former students of a now-defunct for-profit college sued to get out of paying their student loans… but yet is so eager to set a Chinese national free who was trying to flee to China after illegally flying a drone over a U.S. military base.
#YinpiaoZhao, charged with a crime on a military base, should be tried in the military system, not a civilian court. #China https://t.co/Q9YTcBQsG4
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) December 12, 2024
Meet the Judge Who Ordered the Release of a Chinese National Arrested for Taking Drone Shots of a Military Basehttps://t.co/KdMmw9lZG2
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) December 13, 2024
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