Miami, – Federal authorities are investigating possible Chinese espionage at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, which on Wednesday played down the detention of an Asian woman who tried to put a USB stick with a “malware” in it. your tourist complex in Palm Beach (Florida).
Asked about it during an act at the White House, Trump said he was not worried about security in Mar-a-Lago, and said the case was something “isolated” and that it was handled “very well”.
“We have an extremely good control (in the club)”, presumed the president on the case of Yujing Zhang, the woman who managed to spend this weekend a first point of inspection at the club during a visit of the president to Palm Beach.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began an investigation to determine if it was espionage, an official of that agency told CNN.
The official, who was not identified, said the FBI is doing what it has to do in these circumstances, when there is a foreign citizen involved and there is a possibility of counterintelligence or cybersecurity problems.
Zhang, who faces up to five years in prison and $ 350,000 in fines, managed to enter with two Chinese passports, four cell phones, a hard drive, a laptop and the device with the “malware” (malignant program), according to a lawsuit to the one that had access Efe.
Federal agents said that Zhang made false statements and entered a building or restricted land.
The defendant had a first hearing on Monday before federal judge William Matthewman and a second hearing is scheduled for next Monday, April 8.
The FBI investigation, according to the Miami Herald published Wednesday, includes Cindy Yang, who photographed with Trump in Mar-a-Lago in February and who runs a consulting firm that promises Chinese businessmen contacts with the president’s environment. .
“I do not know anything about her, I take lots of pictures with people, ‘selfies’ and all that, sometimes I do it hundreds of times a day,” Trump said.
FBI investigators, according to the Miami newspaper, find out who Zhang is, if she is involved in a possible Chinese intelligence mission and if there are links to Yang’s social events in Mar-a-Lago, the president’s winter residence.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats on Wednesday expressed concern over Zhang’s access to Mar-a-lago and the “vulnerability” to national security that “manages classified information” in several areas that have been established as security when the president visits his club in Palm Beach.
The concerns were consigned in a letter from Senators Mark Warner, Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer to the federal authorities. (EFE)
