US Democrats demand probe of spa owner who met Trump
WASHINGTON: Top congressional Democrats urged US intelligence chiefs on Monday to open investigations into a massage parlour founder who has met Mr Donald Trump and reportedly claimed to sell access to the US president.
Ms Li "Cindy" Yang founded a chain of day spas in Florida, including the Orchids of Asia spa visited by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was charged with paying for sex during a February raid on the business.
Kraft is a frequent visitor of Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and a selfie that Ms Yang snapped with Mr Trump at his February Super Bowl watching party there has circulated online.
According to The Miami Herald and Mother Jones magazine, Ms Yang, who is from China, set up a consulting firm offering Chinese clients opportunities to interact with the president and his relatives.
On a cached page of its website, which has since been taken down, GY US Investments LLC offered clients opportunities to have dinners, meetings and photographs with the president.
"If true, these allegations raise serious counterintelligence concerns," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler wrote in a letter to heads of the FBI, US Secret Service and the director of national intelligence.
Top Democrats on the intelligence and judiciary committees in the Senate also signed the letter, which raised warnings about the national security dangers of selling political influence.
"Although Ms Yang's activities may only be those of an unscrupulous actor allegedly selling access to politicians for profit, her activities also could permit adversary governments or their agents access to these same politicians to acquire potential material for blackmail or other even more nefarious purposes," the Democrats wrote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said the facts surrounding the situation are "very concerning", and they urged FBI Director Christopher Wray to start an investigation.
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