Top Senate Dems ask FBI to review security risks at Trump properties

Top Senate Democrats are asking the FBI to assess security risks at President Trump’s properties after a woman was found to have entered his Mar-a-Lago resort with false documents and malicious software.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.), penned a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday asking him to probe possible threats. The letter came in response to charges brought Tuesday against Yujin Zhang, who is accused of illegally entering the Florida club, while Trump was present, with two Chinese passports, four cellphones and a device containing malware.

{mosads}“The apparent ease with which Ms. Zhang gained access to the facility during the President’s weekend visit raises concerns about the system for screening visitors, including the reliance on determinations made by Mar-a-Lago employees. As the White House Communications Agency and Secret Service coordinate 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,” the senators wrote. 

“Accordingly, we ask that the FBI, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, assess the risks at Mar-a-Lago posed by establishment of areas for classified information at facility accessible to the public and foreign nationals.” 

The senators also requested the FBI work with the Secret Service to take steps to prevent foreign government agents from gaining access to the properties or conducting electronic surveillance.

The president is known to conduct meetings with foreign dignitaries at his personal properties, particularly at Mar-a-Lago. He has hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping there to negotiate the trade relationship between Washington and Beijing and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss commerce and defense interests. 

Security concerns at the Florida property were first thrust into the spotlight last month after it was reported that the founder of a chain of Florida spas advertised access to the president at the resort through her consulting firm. Heightening the scrutiny, one of the spas in the chain was shut down in a Palm Beach human trafficking sting last month.

Chinese nationals Li Yang and her husband, Zubin Gong, reportedly advertised “the opportunity to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures.”

A picture surfaced of Yang posing with Trump on Feb. 3. 

Yang has denied selling access to the president, and the White House has said Trump does not know her.