US investigates fake heiress who infiltrated Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
28 Aug 2022 07:27

Fears over security failures are increasing after a Ukrainian lady entered the Florida resort by pretending to be a Rothschild.

Trump's Florida residence. (AFP)

Fears over security vulnerabilities during and after Donald Trump's presidency have increased as US authorities look into the entrance of a second foreign national to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club, which is the focus of an FBI investigation into missing confidential materials.

An article from the Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) claims that a Ukrainian woman who entered the private members club under false pretenses and pretended to be a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty is currently being investigated by the bureau.

At Mar-a-Lago functions, Inna Yashchyshyn allegedly pretended to be a Rothschild heiress while mingling with Donald Trump, US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and other guests.

According to the Pittsburgh Gazette and OCCRP, Yashchyshyn had shown "how easily someone with a phony identity and dark history" could slip past Trump's club security.

The daughter of an Illinois truck driver, Yashchyshyn claimed to be a Rothschild heiress while serving as president of United Hearts of Mercy, which was established in Canada in 2015 by Russian businessman Valery Tarasenko of Florida.

The FBI secured a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago earlier this month as part of a criminal investigation into the improper retention of government secrets by Trump and his advisers, who refused to surrender the allegedly mishandled documents despite repeated demands.

The football

This major security blunder brought to the minds of many a unique occurrence during Trump's presidency: A guest who took a photo of Trump and then-Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe then took a selfie with a military aide holding the black leather satchel known as "the football," which contained the nuclear strike codes.

“It’s unheard of,” a deputy national security adviser to Joe Biden in the Barack Obama administration said at the time. “These people operate behind the scenes. I don’t think this team has any appreciation about the vulnerabilities they are creating for themselves and how dangerous this is.”

At the time, Sean Spicer, the press secretary for the Trump administration, stated that no classified material was discussed and that the leaders' discussions were instead centered on the details of the press conferences they would be giving.

A heavily redacted affidavit describing the search's justification provided new information about the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago was released on Friday. It described how agents thought the former president's home might contain highly confidential information about the nation's defense as well as proof of obstruction of justice.

The letter explained how the FBI discovered that Trump had stored classified government information at Mar-a-Lago after reviewing materials he had returned to the National Archives in May 2022.