Security at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club Scrutinized After Chinese Woman’s Arrest

(Bloomberg) -- Congressional Democrats demanded fresh scrutiny of security risks at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club after the arrest of a Chinese woman who managed to pass Secret Service screening, highlighting concerns about the president’s use of his Florida resort.

The suspect, Yujing Zhang, was initially allowed onto the Palm Beach property by the Secret Service. She was later detained after entering a restricted area with four mobile phones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive found to contain malware, according to an affidavit the service filed in support of the charges against her.

The Miami Herald reported Wednesday that federal authorities have been investigating whether a Chinese intelligence operation is targeting Trump and Mar-a-Lago, citing unidentified sources. The arrest on Saturday “turbo-charged” the probe, which had already been under way, according to the newspaper.

China said only that it reached out to Yang after being notified of her arrest Wednesday via the country’s diplomatic mission in Houston. “The consulate general has contacted the citizen and provided consular assistance,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters Thursday in Beijing.

America’s first billionaire president spends many of his weekends at golf course resort properties he owns in Florida and New Jersey, presenting unprecedented logistical and financial challenges for the government agency responsible for protecting him. Each trip costs taxpayers more than $1 million a day, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office, and the Zhang incident points to a fundamental vulnerability in security procedures at the Florida resort: There is little vetting of people who enter as guests.
Read more: Mar-a-Lago on $1 Million a Day: Taxpayer Costs for Trump Trips

Anyone accompanying a club member or with a ticket to a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago is subjected only to physical screening when they arrive, according to the GAO. Trump often holds court in dining rooms and other open-access spaces in his clubs, making it possible for anyone who passes the screening to get close to him or to pose other security risks.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he’s not concerned about Zhang’s arrest and that he “could not be happier” with the Secret Service. “No, I’m not concerned at all,” he said. “No, I think it’s just a fluke situation.”

Presidential Protection

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said he and the senior Republican on the panel, Jim Jordan of Ohio, would be briefed on security procedures at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.

“It is very, very important that the president be protected,” Cummings told reporters. “I feel very strongly about that, just as I did with President Obama.”

Three Democratic senators led by New York’s Chuck Schumer wrote to FBI Director Chris Wray on Wednesday. “This latest incident raises very serious questions regarding security vulnerabilities at Mar-a-Lago, which foreign intelligence services have reportedly targeted,” they said, asking that Wray and the director of National Intelligence assess risks at the property.

Representative Adam Schiff of California, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Wray, Randolph Alles, the director of the Secret Service, and Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence over the episode.

“The incident with Ms. Zhang raises grave counterintelligence and other concerns. According to the Secret Service, access to what the president calls the ‘Southern White House’ is apparently controlled in large part by the president’s own private business,” Schiff said in the letter. “Access to the club could allow agents of foreign governments to collect valuable information on those with access to President Trump or conduct any of several
other intelligence collection or influence operations."

The Secret Service pinned the blame for Zhang’s security breach squarely on the Mar-a-Lago staff.

“The Secret Service does not determine who is invited or welcome at Mar-a-Lago; this is the responsibility of the host entity,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Mar-a-Lago club management determines which members and guests are granted access to the property.”

“With the exception of certain permanently protected facilities, such as the White House, the practice used at Mar-a-Lago is no different than that long-used at any other site temporarily visited by the president or other Secret Service protectees,” the agency added.

Hosting Leaders

But Mar-a-Lago has proven different from other facilities the president temporarily visits. The club remains open to its members and guests when Trump is there, and he has hosted world leaders and has appeared to conduct sensitive business in accessible areas.

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited in February 2017, photos surfaced on social media of Trump, Abe and their aides huddled in conversation in what appeared to be a dining room as they formulated a response to a North Korean ballistic missile test. The White House said at the time that Trump was briefed in a secure area and no classified information was shared in public, but the episode set off concerns, prompting lawmakers to ask the GAO for its analysis.

Two months later, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met privately at Mar-a-Lago before Trump announced a surprise airstrike on a Syrian airfield. Trump and Xi may soon meet again at the club for a trade summit.

When Zhang arrived at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, she initially told a Secret Service agent that she was there to use the pool and presented two Chinese passports as proof of identity, according to the affidavit submitted by Secret Service Special Agent Samuel Ivanovich. After more questioning, she said she was there for a United Nations Chinese-American Association event.

Massage Parlor Owner

There was no event with that name on the club’s schedule but Zhang was likely referring to a pair of events that had been slated for Saturday that were advertised on social media by Li “Cindy” Yang, the former owner of a South Florida massage parlor that was caught up in a human trafficking scandal last month, the Herald reported.

Yang was found to have taken pictures with Trump and others close to him and to have used them to advertise her ability to help Chinese clients get into events with Trump.

Trump said Wednesday that he doesn’t know Yang, asking reporters “who is that?” when they asked about his relationship with her. “I don’t know anything about it,” he said.

One of the events Yang had advertised for Saturday was the International Leaders Elite Forum, which promised an appearance by Elizabeth Trump Grau, the president’s 76-year-old sister.

Zhang was cleared through the Secret Service checkpoint after a Mar-a-Lago employee said she might be related to a member with the same surname. She was picked up by a golf-cart-driving valet whom she was unable to tell where she wanted to go, Ivanovich said in his affadavit. The driver brought her to the main reception area, where Zhang said she had come for the association event, even though none was scheduled.

The receptionist then let Ivanovich know that the woman wasn’t authorized to be on site and Secret Service agents arrested her. Zhang later told agents she had been told by a friend to go to Mar-a-Lago and talk to a member of Trump’s family about U.S.-Chinese economic relations, according to Ivanovich’s affidavit.

Timothy Miller, a former Secret Service agent and president of LionHeart International Services Group in West Palm Beach, said the episode raises alarm.

“She should have not been able to make it through the first, ‘Hey I’m on a guest list,”’ he said. “The fact that others can come and go as we saw in this incident is concerning, because it could create an opportunity for someone with ill-intent to do what this lady did -- attempt to breach security."

--With assistance from Billy House, Andrew Harris, Jonathan Levin, Alyza Sebenius and Dandan Li.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, John Harney

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