Thread by @MiamiHerald

NEW: After President Trump said there were "very fine people on both sides" of the white nationalist march in Charlottesville, charities pulled out of Mar-a-Lago.

This opened the doors for Cindy Yang and others to market events for their access to Trump: hrld.us/2YD6ND8

How did it work? Here's a breakdown of how Yang helped a Chinese actress who wanted to bolster her image in China get a photo op with Donald Trump Jr. hrld.us/2YD6ND8

We’ve been following the story of Cindy Yang and her connections to President Trump for the past few weeks. Here’s what we know:

Following charges brought against Robert Kraft, we reported that Trump had been photographed with Yang, the founder and former owner of the South Florida massage parlor where authorities say Kraft was caught on camera paying for oral sex. hrld.us/2SQhHBD

These photos led our reporters to look into Yang’s access to the president and his associates.

For example, Yang arranged for a group of Chinese business execs to attend a paid fundraiser for Trump in New York at the end of 2017, according to a source. hrld.us/2YBkz9l

She also brought two Chinese-born tech executives to take formal photos with Trump. It came with a big price tag: $50,000 per photo, benefiting the president’s re-election campaign. miamiherald.com/latest-news/ar…

Yang also used her burgeoning political access to bring Xianqin Qu, a leader from the foreign arm of the Communist Party of China, to an event where she met top Republicans and members of the Trump administration. hrld.us/2U38rzF

Members of an Asian-American GOP political group that Yang belonged to even began to worry that their group could be used to worm foreign money into the president’s reelection campaign. hrld.us/2FGvPsJ

Was Yang an ambitious political novice enamored with the new president? Had she possibly stumbled into a campaign-finance violation? Could she even be working with Chinese intelligence?

Her mother has a simpler explanation. hrld.us/2uywN4O

Democrats are now calling for criminal and counterintelligence investigations, asking the FBI to look into "credible allegations" of unlawful foreign lobbying or campaign finance activities and human trafficking. hrld.us/2U268Nb

Our reporters @Blaskey_S, @NickNehamas and @ceostroff will continue to pursue this story as more details emerge.

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