There was a strange incident at Mar-a-Lago this week: a Chinese national tried to infiltrate the residence of former President Donald Trump. Zijie Li, 38, of El Monte, California, tried repeatedly to gain access to the property. This was a concerted effort that quickly got the attention of the Secret Service and local law enforcement around the property following the July 13 assassination attempt on the former president in Butler, California. Li claimed to have documents tying his government to the assassination attempt (via Fox News):
A Chinese citizen was arrested after police said he repeatedly tried to get into former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Zijie Li, 38, of El Monte, California, claimed that he had documents that tie his home country's government to the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was killed by Secret Service agents after the bullets he fired struck Trump's ear, narrowly missing his skull, and hit three of his supporters, killing former Buffalo Township Fire Chief Corey Comperatore.
A Chinese citizen was arrested Wednesday for trying to enter Mar-a-Lago, claiming he had documents that tie his government to the July 13 assassination attempt
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) August 2, 2024
Things are getting weird pic.twitter.com/eHbDUbsl8M
The Palm Beach Post has more on Li’s lengthy effort to get inside the property. Over the course of a few days, Li did his best to get inside, driving in and around Mar-a-Lago before police finally arrested him:
Li's first attempt to reach Mar-a-Lago was the day before, at about 8 p.m. July 19, when he pulled up to the estate's main gate on South Ocean Boulevard in a gray Toyota Prius and told Secret Service agents that he had documents showing China was involved in the attempted assassination, according to an arrest report. Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time — he was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the Republican National Convention that week.
Agents told Li that he was trespassing and was not allowed into Mar-a-Lago, and the Palm Beach Police Department issued him a written warning, the report said. Police told Li that he could not return to Mar-a-Lago or he would be arrested.
Town security cameras show that Li's next visit to Palm Beach was July 22, when he twice drove east and then west again over the Royal Park Bridge, first in the morning and then in the afternoon, the arrest report said. Trump was at Mar-a-Lago that day, having returned from Wisconsin very early the previous morning.
On July 30, Li was spotted at about 5:40 p.m. driving toward the security checkpoint for Mar-a-Lago at South County Road and South Ocean Boulevard, the report said. Li was blocking a lane of traffic, so a Palm Beach Police officer stopped him and noticed that Mar-a-Lago's address, 1100 S. Ocean Blvd., was on Li's GPS system, according to the arrest report.
Li was released and left town heading west over the Royal Park Bridge, but returned less than an hour later when his car was spotted south of Mar-a-Lago on South Ocean Boulevard, the report said. This time, Palm Beach Police and Secret Service agents again stopped him and told him not to return to Mar-a-Lago.
But, police said, Li kept trying.
His car first traveled east and then west over the Royal Park Bridge north of Mar-a-Lago between 8 and 8:30 a.m., according to town security cameras. Li's Prius was then spotted minutes later going east over the Southern Boulevard Bridge next to Mar-a-Lago, and he drove past the Secret Service checkpoint and south to Lake Worth Beach, the arrest report said.
He came back again about 10 a.m., driving east on Southern Boulevard across the Intracoastal Waterway and past the Secret Service checkpoints, trying to enter Mar-a-Lago at the estate's southern gate, police said.
At that point, he was back on Mar-a-Lago property and in violation of the trespassing warning, the report said. When security told Li that he couldn't enter Mar-a-Lago, he left again — but this time, officers were looking for him.
Palm Beach Police found him back in Palm Beach, and Li was arrested at the intersection of Royal Palm Way and South County Road, north of Mar-a-Lago.
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We’ll keep you updated on this odd story. Li remains in jail on trespassing charges.
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