Chinese National Charged After He's Caught Trying To Get Inside Mar-A-Lago: Reports

Crime & Safety

Chinese National Charged After He's Caught Trying To Get Inside Mar-A-Lago: Reports He's tried to breach security several times because he wanted to speak with Donald Trump, NBC reported.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — A Chinese citizen from California who previously tried to get inside Mar-a-Lago while Donald Trump made a second attempt on Thursday, resulting in his arrest for trespassing, according to reports.

Zijie Li, 39, has tried to breach security on the property several times because he wanted to speak with Trump, he was first given a trespassing warning on July 19, NBC News reported, citing an arrest report.

Li had been in Palm Beach four other times, in which he drove up to a checkpoint but did not try to get inside the property, the outlet said.

Li returned to the property around 5 p.m. on Thursday, and detectives, who were assigned to the protect the property, were informed an Uber with Li as a passenger was stopped at the south gate entrance, and he was charged with a misdemeanor, CBS News reported.

Police found probable cause to arrest Li with one count of Trespass After Warning, because he did so unlawfully, without being authorized, licensed, or invited willfully enter upon and remain in any property other than a structure or conveyance the property of Mar-a-Lago, according to the outlet.

A judge on Friday ordered Li held at Palm Beach County Jail on a $100,000 bond and he has been ordered to have no contact with Trump, his properties, and Mar-a-Lago, and he can't have a gun, the outlet reported.

Li, who is in the country on a student visa and lives in Los Angeles, was recently released from a mental hospital, where he was since late October after police found him found near the property again, The Associated Press reported.

He first tried to get inside the property in July by telling Secret Service agents that he had information that would tie China to the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennslyvania and that he was told to leave and not return, but he was arrested the next week for trying twice to get inside, according to the outlet.

Last week, Li approached a homeowner near the property who had placed a Trump campaign sign in her yard, and asked her if she was a member and if she would take him inside, but she called police, who took him to a mental hospital for observation, the outlet reported, citing records.

In Trump's presidential term, at least two Chinese nationals were part of the numerous illegal incursions at the property, though he was not harmed in any of them, according to The Associated Press.

Thursday's arrest follows a sniper shooting Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, as well as a stalker who allegedly planned an assassination attempt. The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that an Iranian plot to kill Trump was stopped on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed additional reporting to this story.