Nothing to see here: Donald Trump dismisses Mar-a-Lago security breach as a ‘fluke’

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday shrugged off a security breach at his Florida resort last weekend – when a woman gained access after allegedly lying to Secret Service agents – as a “fluke”.

Trump’s comment followed calls from senior congressional Democrats for the FBI to review security risks at the Mar-a-Lago resort, the private club in Palm Beach on the south Florida coast where the president frequently spends his weekends.

On Saturday, Zhang Yujing, a Chinese national, entered the property after telling a Secret Service agent she was there to use the pool, then later told Mar-a-Lago staff she was there to attend a “United Nations Friendship Event”, according to a criminal complaint filed in US federal court.

After confirming that no such event was on the resort’s daily schedule, a member of the reception staff alerted Secret Service agents, who placed Zhang under arrest. She was charged on Monday with making false statements to a federal officer and entering a restricted area.

“I think that was just a fluke situation, and I think that the person sitting at the front desk did a very good job, to be honest with you,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

A search of Zhang’s possessions found she was carrying two Chinese passports, four mobile phones, a laptop, an external hard drive and a thumb drive found to be carrying malware.

Trump said he was “not concerned at all” when asked about the possibility of Chinese espionage attempts at Mar-a-Lago.

“[The] Secret Service is fantastic,” he said. “These are fantastic people. And the end result is it was good. I think probably we’ll see what happened – where [Zhang is] from, who she is. ”

“But the result is they were able to get her. And she’s now suffering the consequences of whatever it is she had in mind.”

The FBI was investigating whether Zhang had any links to Chinese intelligence or political influence campaigns, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two unnamed US governmental officials.

China’s consulate general in Houston was aware of Zhang’s situation and was providing consular assistance to her, a spokesman for China’s ministry of foreign affairs said on Thursday in Beijing.

The weekend’s events have stoked concerns among lawmakers that resort’s security protocols are insufficient for a property at which the US president spends a significant amount of time.

Trump, who has spent at least 81 days at Mar-a-Lago since taking office, according to a count by The New York Times, was staying at the resort over the weekend, but was golfing nearby at his Trump International Golf Club when Zhang gained entry.

Because Mar-a-Lago is a commercial property, the Secret Service, the branch of federal law enforcement that overseas protection of the president, sometimes defers to the resort’s own staff when it comes to guest admission.

Zhang, for instance, was allowed past perimeter security when agents were told by the resort’s on-duty manager that Zhang shared the surname of a registered guest.

“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,” said a letter sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray by Senate Democrats on Wednesday.

In the letter, Charles Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and Mark Warner and Dianne Feinstein, of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called on the FBI, “in consultation with the director of national intelligence”, to investigate the risks at the resort “posed by establishment of areas for classified information at facility accessible to the public and foreign nationals”.

The lawmakers also sought an immediate response from the FBI into previous calls for an investigation into Cindy Yang, the Florida-based massage parlour owner who last month was found to have run a business selling photo opportunities and face-to-face meetings with prominent US political figures to Chinese clients.

Yang, who has not been charged with any offence, attended numerous Trump campaign fundraising events, functions at the White House and events at Mar-a-Lago, where she appeared in a photograph beside Trump during a Super Bowl party in February.

Trump on Wednesday said he “didn’t know anything about [Yang].”

“I take a lot of pictures with people,” he said. “That looked like a selfie or something, and I do that a lot.”