The real national security issue is the president of the United States

Federal authorities are investigating possible Chinese intelligence operations targeting President Donald Trump and his private Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, sources familiar with the never-before-reported investigation told the Miami Herald Wednesday.

The federal counterintelligence probe was turbo-charged on Saturday when U.S. Secret Service agents arrested a Chinese woman, Yujing Zhang, after they said she tried to enter the club with a bevy of electronic devices, including a thumb drive infected with “malicious malware.”

The ongoing investigation has also recently focused on Li “Cindy” Yang, the sources told the Herald. Yang is a South Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who has promoted events at Mar-a-Lago with ads targeting Chinese business executives hoping to gain access to Trump and his family.

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Now, investigators with the FBI Counterintelligence Division in South Florida are trying to figure out who Zhang is, whether she is involved in a possible Chinese intelligence mission and whether there are links to Yang’s social events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.


Zhang was headed to a Mar-a-Lago event advertised on Chinese social media by Yang when she was arrested by federal authorities on charges of making a false statement to a federal officer and entering restricted property.

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She told conflicting stories about wanting to use the club’s pool, as well as hoping to discuss U.S.-China economic relations with a member of the president’s family, court records say. Trump was golfing at another of his South Florida clubs during the incident.

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Zhang, whose birth year is listed as 1986 in court records, has not been charged with any crimes related to espionage. Her federal public defender did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Yang has said she has no ties to China’s government and does not personally know Donald Trump or sell access to him.
  Miami Herald

I thought that's what the whole massage parlor madam scandal was about.

Zhang, whose birth year is listed as 1986 in court records, has not been charged with any crimes related to espionage. Her federal public defender did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Yang has said she has no ties to China’s government and does not personally know Donald Trump or sell access to him.

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On Wednesday, top Democrats in Washington called on the FBI and Director of National Intelligence to assess the risks posed by Mar-a-Lago’s policy of admitting members of the public and foreign nationals while the president and his family are using the club.

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“As the White House Communications Agency and Secret Service continue to establish several secure areas at Mar-a-Lago for handling classified information when the president travels there, these potential vulnerabilities have serious national security implications.”

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The letter also asks for the FBI and DNI to coordinate with the Secret Service to determine the steps needed to “detect and deter adversary governments or their agents from attempting to gain access to or conduct electronic surveillance or acquire material at Mar-a-Lago or President Trump’s other properties.”

How much more is that going to cost us?

In a CNN interview Wednesday, President Trump said he is not concerned about the Chinese trying to spy on him at Mar-a-Lago. “I think that was just a fluke situation,” he said.

He can just ask Xi who will tell him it has nothing to do with the Chinese government. That should clear it up.

According to the court documents, Zhang traveled from Shanghai, China, to South Florida to attend a “United Nations Chinese Friendship” event as a guest of a social media contact she identified only as “Charles.” Although authorities pointed out there was no event occurring by that exact name, Yang had previously been promoting two Mar-a-Lago events that day: an “International Leaders Elite Forum,” and a Safari Night gala, a fundraiser for a youth charity. The events were canceled after intense news coverage of Yang and her activities, something Zhang might not have realized.

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At an exterior checkpoint, Zhang provided two Chinese passports and told Secret Service personnel that she wanted to use the pool, though it was later discovered there was no swimming suit in her bag. She was allowed to pass. Suspicions were raised after a receptionist found Zhang was not on Mar-a-Lago’s guest list for the weekend.

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She was arrested after allegedly becoming “verbally aggressive” with agents, according to court records.

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Mar-a-Lago club management — not the Secret Service — determines who has access to the property, according to a Secret Secret statement released Tuesday.

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Yang pitched the combination of March 30 events as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for overseas Chinese clients to meet members of the Trump family and other top politicians in her Chinese-language ads targeting overseas buyers.

An associate of Yang named Charles Lee also pushed out the advertisements on Chinese social media.

Lee is the founder of the United Nations Chinese Friendship Association, a for-profit Delaware-based company that is not listed by the United Nations as an affiliated organization. Instead, Lee uses the company to advertise Yang’s Mar-a-Lago invites to Chinese clients hoping to get close to Trump.

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The group’s website promoted the Chinese Communist Party, and promoted President Xi Jinping’s business diplomacy agenda — an effort to send Chinese business leaders abroad to befriend politicians in hopes of gaining favor for China and its agenda.

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Lee could not be reached for comment and appears to have disconnected his phone and taken down the group’s website after being contacted by a Herald reporter last week. In a brief conversation at the time, Lee denied knowing Yang before hanging up.

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“The surprise would be if Chinese and Russian and other adversarial governments were not trying to get into Mar-a-Lago and the president’s other properties,” said Peter Harrell, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and former Obama administration State Department official. ”There’s a huge trove of information available.”

Although the Secret Service regularly sweeps the property for bugs, Harrell said Trump’s penchant for speaking off-the-cuff could make an enticing target.

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Since Trump became president, longtime Mar-a-Lago members have noted the increased presence of foreigners at charity events and galas — in particular, large contingents of Chinese people who spoke little English. “It’s a circus,” one longtime employee told the Miami Herald on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions at work. The employee said Chinese guests would bring gifts of cheap electronics, and constantly ask staff to help them get face time with Trump or his family.

So Zhang's electronic devices may have been intended as "gifts", but the security risks are still there. Trump is still there.

And he's going to be carrying around government secrets for the rest of his life. It's not like changing the locks on the White House doors will be the end of it.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.