FBI probe ‘Chinese spy ring’ targeting Trump at Mar-a-Lago after Chinese woman tried to get in with two passports and thumb drive with ‘malware’ – but president says: ‘I’m not concerned at all’
- President Donald Trump and his private Florida beach club Mar-a-Lago are being investigated as a possible target of Chinese intelligence operations
- The ongoing probe got a punch in the arm when Secret Service agents arrested Yujing Zhang, a Chinese woman, who tried to enter the club over the weekend
- She was carrying carrying two Chinese passports, a thumb drive with malware on it, four cellphones, a laptop and a hard drive
- Trump said he is not concerned at all
- ‘I’m not concerned at all,’ he said. ‘I think that was just a fluke situation’
- He said of Zhang: ‘She’s now suffering the consequences of whatever it is she had in mind’
- Trump also said he doesn’t know Cindy Yang, who allegedly tried to sell Chinese businessmen access to the first family via Mar-a-Lago
- Yang has denied any ties to Chinese government or that she tried to sell access
President Donald Trump and his private Florida beach club Mar-a-Lago are being investigated as a possible target of Chinese intelligence operations, it was reported on Wednesday.
The ongoing federal investigation got a punch in the arm when Secret Service agents arrested Yujing Zhang, a Chinese woman, who tried to enter the club carrying carrying two Chinese passports, a thumb drive with malware on it, four cellphones, a laptop and a hard drive.
But Trump said on Wednesday he’s not concerned at all about security at his Florida residence.
President Donald Trump and his private Florida beach club Mar-a-Lago are being investigated as a possible target of Chinese intelligence operations
The ongoing probe got a punch in the arm when Secret Service agents arrested Yujing Zhang, a Chinese woman, who tried to enter the club over the weeekend
‘I’m not concerned at all,’ he said at the White House. ‘I think that was just a fluke situation and I think that the person sitting at the front desk did a very good job to be honest with you.’
He also wouldn’t say if security measures would change in wake of the incident.
‘Secret Service is fantastic. These are fantastic people. And the end result is it was good. I think probably we’ll see what happened. Where she’s from. Who she is, but the result is they were able to get her and she’s now suffering the consequences of whatever it is she had in mind but I would say I could not be happier with Secret Service. Secret Service has done a fantastic job from day one. Very happy with them,’ he said.
The president’s private club in West Palm Beach, Fla., referred to as the Southern White House, is open to members and their guests when he and the first lady are in residence.
The FBI probe has focused on Li ‘Cindy’ Yang, according to the Miami Herald.
Yang, a Florida business woman who founded a chain of massage parlors that included the one where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was arrested for allegedly soliciting prostitution, runs a consulting business that offers access to the Trump family to Chinese clients.
Trump said on Wednesday he doesn’t know her.
‘Who is that?,’ he said when reporters asked him about his relationship with Yang.
When explained she was the woman who took a photo with him at his Super Bowl party, he responded: ‘I don’t know anything about her. I mean, I take a lot of pictures with people that look like a selfie or something and I do that a lot. I do that -sometimes depending on where I am or what I’m doing, hundreds of times a day. But, no, I don’t know anything about her.’
The FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in South Florida had been investigating Yang before her business dealings became public.
Investigators are now trying to determine who Zhang is, why she broke into Mar-a-Lago, what her intentions were with the malware and if there are any ties between her and Yang.
Yang claims she has no ties to China’s government and does not personally know the president or tried sell access to him.
In a statement to the Miami Herald on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Yang said: ‘Our client has stated that she does not know the woman who was arrested at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.’
Li ‘Cindy’ Yang denied that she used her connections to Trump and the Republican Party to sell access to the president’s inner circle to wealthy Chinese business people
Yang, 45, seen in foreground with President Trump and a guest at Mar-a-Lago in February at a Mar-a-Lago Super Bowl party
Trump left Mar-a-Lago with Melania and their son Barron on Sunday evening after spending the weekend there
Zhang, 32, has been charged with with making false statements to federal agents and illegally entering a restricted area after she briefly gained access to Mar-a-Lago last weekend.
She told conflicting stories about why she was there. At one point she said she was a member who wanted to use the pool and at another said she was there to attend a reception.
Mar-a-Lago club management — not Secret Service — determines who has access to the property, according to a statement from the protective agency.
Trump was in Florida although at his golf course at the time. First lady Melania Trump and Barron Trump were also in West Palm Beach.