Zhang's audience exposes the weaknesses of the secret services in Mar-a-Lago

During his interrogation, Adler urged Ivanovich to admit the following details about the secret service process with Zhang and the private club.

Malware started to download automatically

The secret services had confiscated from Zhang a USB key (and several other electronic devices) that she had taken to Mar-a-Lago. When an agent was going to run a scan on the drive by inserting it into a computer, he would immediately start downloading a file. The secret services had called it "malicious malware".

It was "quite out of the ordinary" – an authorized download that they had never seen before, Ivanovich said. The agent who watched the reader immediately stopped analyzing it and turned off his computer when he realized what was going on.

In a statement, a law enforcement official, speaking in context, said that every time the agency conducts a forensic analysis on an electronic device it is performed in a controlled environment and on a standalone computer, and not on a computer in the Secret Service Network. These protocols were followed in this case, said the manager.

No video surveillance at the secret service entrance checkpoint

The audio and video surveillance in Mar-a-Lago did not seize the entrance to Zhang's club, as these surveillance devices were not used by the secret services at the checkpoint of ################################################################> 39; entry. They did, however, check two passports that she was wearing. Even 7-Eleven convenience stores have video cameras, the defense attorney pointed out.

Did not record audio during the interview

When the secret services interrogated Zhang at the agency's office after firing her from Mar-a-Lago, the agency filmed her interview. But without the knowledge of the agent who conducted the interrogation, the office did not record the audio of the interview. The room where she was interviewed did not have that ability. The agent had thought that audio recording capability was a common practice in Secret Service offices.

The staff of Mar-a-Lago determines who enters

The secret services seemed to rely on Mar-a-Lago staff to determine whether people should be admitted to the club when the president was there, which would determine whether Zhang was related to a club member. to the testimony of Ivanovich. It's up to a "host committee" to decide who will access a site subject to the restrictions of the secret service, the agent said.

The president was not on club ground while Zhang reportedly tried to enter.

No protocol to report multiple phones

The agency also had no protocol for reporting the amount or type of electronics that Zhang had brought with her – even if she had a malware that even an agent performing an analysis on the device was unusual . "We do not refuse someone to have so many mobile phones.This is not a direct violation of our restricted access," Ivanovich told the judge.

Zhang had four phones and other devices – and she left several others, including a radio signal detector, in her hotel room nearby.

Language barrier

Zhang was clearly a Chinese national, with two Chinese passports, her mother tongue, Mandarin. But Ivanovich and other members of the secret service took hours to call on an available agent who spoke Mandarin and could help with the translation during his interview.

The secret services spoke to him – and she answered them – in English for more than four hours of questions, Ivanovich said. Her ability to read English and her responses led her to believe that she had no problem with the language. But the language, said the secret services, had caused confusion in his relationship with a member of Mar-a-Lago.

Once the Mandarin speaking agent was involved, he would talk to him to give him "more understanding" during the interview, Ivanovich said. Zhang used a translator Monday in court to listen to the proceedings, but answered the judge's questions in English.

The breach has led congressional Democrats to ask for more information about security in Mar-a-Lago. The criminal complaint filed by prosecutors and the secret service against Zhang last week showed how a beach club official in Mar-a-Lago mistakenly thought Zhang was related to a member. The president, whose family business is the owner of the club, called Zhang's entrance on the property and said that he was not worried.