Administration

DC teen snuck into Mar-a-Lago while Trump was in town

A college freshman snuck into President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last November while Trump was in town after fooling Secret Service agents into believing he was a club member, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Mark Lindblom, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, wandered the Palm Beach club for 20 minutes before being arrested, according to the newspaper. On Tuesday he told a federal magistrate he did not enter the club with any ill intent and was only curious as to whether he could do it.

{mosads}Lindblom was reportedly visiting his grandparents at the Palm Beach Bath & Tennis Club, which shares a beach with Trump’s club, and simply stood in line with Mar-a-Lago members. He was allowed through security by Secret Service, according to the paper.

“We have no reason to believe he had a political, criminal or terroristic purpose,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John McMillan told U.S. Magistrate William Matthewman. “It was a foolish decision he did on a lark.”

Lindblom did not steal anything and only took pictures on his phone, according to the report.

Lindblom pleaded guilty to entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail, but Matthewman sentenced him to a year’s probation, according to the Post.

The incident occurred months before Yujing Zhang, a Chinese national, was arrested after entering the club, first claiming she had come there to swim and later saying she was there for a meeting of Chinese American business leaders that was not on the club’s schedule. The incident sparked widespread concern about security at the club.

Secret Service found she was carrying multiple cellphones and a thumb drive containing malware. Federal prosecutors said she also had a signal detector used to detect hidden cameras and thousands of dollars in cash in her hotel room.

Tags Donald Trump

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

See all Hill.TV See all Video

Most Popular

Load more

Video

See all Video