Chinese woman arrested at Mar-a-Lago while Trump was in town

The woman, Yujing Zhang, gave different stories of why she was at the Southern White House. Agents said they seized four cell phones, a laptop computer, and a thumb that had malware on it.

WEST PALM BEACH — A 32-year-old Chinese woman was arrested over the weekend for giving false information to get into Mar-a-Lago while President Donald Trump was visiting his Palm Beach estate.

Yujing Zhang was charged with making false statements to a federal officer and entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds. She appeared in U.S. District Court on Monday and is to return to court next week for a hearing to determine whether she will be released from custody on the charges that are punishable by a maximum five-year prison sentence. A public defender was appointed to represent her.

U.S. Secret Service agents said they seized four cell phones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and one thumb drive from Zhang. An examination of the thumb drive showed it contained malicious malware, agents said.

At about noon on Saturday, Zhang approached secret service agents at a checkpoint in a parking lot across from the club just north of Southern Boulevard along the Intracoastal Waterway. She said she wanted to use the pool at the club, agents wrote. She presented the agents with two Republic of China passports to confirm her identity, they said.

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