Pompeo suggests woman arrested at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort may have been spying for China

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mar-a-lagoJoe Raedle/Getty Images

  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested a woman who breached security at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida club may have been a Chinese spy.
  • Yujing Zhang passed Secret Service checks and made it onto the Mar-a-Lago property after showing staff Taiwanese passports and being mistaken for the daughter of a member who shared her last name.
  • The incident has set off concerns about security across multiple agencies as a federal investigation is probing Zhang’s possible ties to Chinese intelligence. 
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested Friday that Yujing Zhang, the woman who breached security at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida club, may have been a Chinese spy. 

Pompeo said on "CBS This Morning" that there was an active investigation into the incident where 32-year-old Zhang was arrested.

"I think this tells the American people the threat that China poses, the efforts they’re making inside the United States, not only against government officials but more broadly," Pompeo said.

Zhang’s arrest has surfaced broader security concerns across several law enforcement agencies, as she has reportedly been charged by federal prosecutors and is under investigation by the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in South Florida for possible ties to Chinese intelligence services, according to the Miami Herald.

Read more: The arrest of a woman carrying a USB stick with malware into Mar-a-Lago exposes glaring flaws in the resort’s security, as FBI reportedly investigates whether she is a Chinese spy

Zhang was on resort property after showing two Taiwanese passports to Secret Service agents and telling them she was a club member trying to use the pool, Secret Service Agent Samuel Ivanovich said in a Saturday court filing.

Upon her arrest, agents discovered she was carrying a laptop, a hard drive, and a thumb drive containing "malicious malware" and spoke better English than she had initially presented to security.

The private property presents a unique security challenge to federal agents, as Trump has previously hosted official visits on the property, in close proximity to resort guests.

The Secret Service said in a statement after Zhang’s arrest that it "does not determine who is invited or welcome at Mar-a-Lago; this is the responsibility of the host entity. The Mar-a-Lago club management determines which members and guests are granted access to the property."

Zhang is due to appear in court next week

Watch Pompeo’s full interview below »

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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Ellen Cranley)

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