High Season at Mar-a-Lago Is Over, but Concern Over Security Lingers
PALM BEACH, Fla. At Mar-a-Lago, President Trumps private club and favorite winter destination, members who have paid $200,000 to belong rely on the comfort of routines: Prime-rib night is every Thursday, croquet clinics are on Sundays and a lavish Mothers Day brunch featuring caviar and shrimp the size of a babys arm, as members like to say always closes the season.
But this year, the order of things was disrupted over and over again.
A government shutdown prevented Mr. Trump always his own clubs guest of honor from visiting over the Christmas holidays. Then a charity event had to be canceled after a woman who was helping sell tickets turned out to be connected to a prostitution sting at a nearby massage parlor. But the arrest of a gate-crasher in March a 33-year-old woman from China who tried to brandish an invitation to an event that did not exist raised concerns that the business involved with brokering access to the presidents private club had collided with efforts to keep the president safe.
The woman, Zhang Yujing, was found with a trove of curious electronics, including a thumb drive initially believed to be infected with malware, and four cellphones. The authorities also found that she had a signal detector used to find hidden secret cameras.
Lisa M. Ruth, a former C.I.A. officer who now runs a private intelligence and security company in Palm Beach County, said the episode was a gaping hole in the presidents security apparatus. She said there was no doubt in her mind that Ms. Zhang was a spy, for either a corporation or a government.
I talk to a lot of intelligence officers its not 98 percent of us that believe she was a spy, Ms. Ruth said. Its 100.
But Mr. Trump has publicly shrugged off any concerns that his club was not secure. Eventually, his club members started doing the same.
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