Massage Parlor Owner Peddling Access to Trump Has Ties to Chinese Government-Linked Groups
Li Yang, the Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who created and operated a business that sold Chinese business executives access to President Donald Trump and his family at Mar-a-Lago, has yet another intriguing line of work. She is an officer of two groups with ties to China’s Communist government. And she founded a Miami-based nonprofit that promotes “economic and cultural exchange” between China and the West in coordination with “senior…Chinese leaders” in the United States, according to a profile of Yang posted on a Chinese social media platform.
After Mother Jones on Saturday revealed that Yang, who goes by Cindy, had been peddling entrée to the Trump family, the Trump White House, and assorted GOP powerbrokers, national security experts noted that this situation could pose a threat, presenting opportunities for espionage or blackmail targeting the president and his inner circle. They expressed concern the Yang’s efforts to broker interactions with Trump and his clan could be exploited by Chinese intelligence. “Guess who else has 100% known about this from the beginning?” tweeted Susan Hennessey, a Brookings Institution fellow who previously worked as a National Security Agency lawyer. “Chinese intelligence services.” Samantha Vinograd, a CNN national security analyst who worked for the National Security Council during the Obama administration, noted: “Our intel community has said China poses one of the most significant counterintelligence challenges—my money is on the Chinese Govt having at least picked up on [Yang’s] access if they didn’t direct it.”
No direct evidence of any such activity has yet emerged. When Mother Jones tried to reach Yang at different phone numbers, each time a man answered the phone, said he did not speak English, and hung up. And Yang did not respond to emails. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders did not respond to questions about security issues raised by Yang’s access. But these apparent links between Yang and Chinese government-related entities will likely fuel concerns that Yang’s actions could have a foreign influence or intelligence angle.
Prior to the 2016 presidential campaign, Yang, who emigrated to the United States from China about 20 years ago and who once worked as a journalist for a Chinese-language television network covering Silicon Valley, had no political profile. She and her family owned and operated a chain of Florida massage parlors, including the one where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was busted last month for soliciting prostitution. (Yang sold that particular spa around 2013, but her family continues to own massage parlors, including several that have a developed “a reputation for offering sexual services,” according to the Miami Herald. Yang has denied violating the law.) During the 2016 election, Yang dove aggressively into presidential politics, first helping to organize events for former Florida governor Jeb Bush before throwing her support behind Trump.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/03/the-massage-parlor-owner-peddling-access-to-trump-has-ties-to-chinese-government-linked-groups-cindy-yang/
= new reply since forum marked as read
