A Chinese national carrying a thumb drive coded with “malicious” software has been arrested after bluffing her way through security checkpoints at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Documents filed by the Secret Service on Tuesday in US District Court say Chinese woman Yujing Zhang was arrested for entering a restricted property and making false statements to officials.

The documents say Ms Zhang approached a Secret Service agent screening visitors to Mar-a-Lago seeking entrance to the club.

The woman produced two Chinese passports displaying her photo and said she wanted to go to the pool. However, officers could not find her name on an access list.

A club manager said a man named Zhang was a club member, and even though Ms Zhang did not give a clear answer as to whether the man was her father, the Secret Service affidavit said resort officials allowed her on the property on the assumption she was related to a member.

Ms Zhang initially said she was there for an event staged by a group called the United Nations Chinese American Association, but no such event was planned.

A receptionist contacted Secret Service personnel, who questioned Ms Zhang and concluded she had no “legitimate documentation” authorising her entry to Mar-a-Lago, according to the filing.

After detaining her, investigators found four phones, a laptop, an external hard drive device and a thumb drive in her possession.

Initial examination of the thumb drive determined it contained “malicious malware”, the Secret Service said.

Agent Samuel Ivanovich wrote in court documents that Ms Zhang told him that she was there for the Chinese-American event and had come early to familiarise herself with the club and take photos, contradicting what she had said at the checkpoint.

She showed him an invitation in Chinese that he could not read.

Mr Ivanovich said Ms Zhang was taken off the grounds and became argumentative. She was taken to the local Secret Service office for questioning.

There, he said, it became clear Ms Zhang spoke and read English well.

The White House referred questions about the incident to the Secret Service on Wednesday. The Secret Service declined to comment.

In the court filing, a public defender representing Ms Zhang said she was invoking her right to remain silent.

-with AAP