‘I have done nothing wrong’: Mayor Thao speaks for first time since FBI raid
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — A fiery Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao spoke publicly Monday morning for the first time since her home was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a mass shooting occurred at Lake Merritt last week. In the face of increasingly louder calls for her to resign, the mayor proclaimed her innocence and suggested the raid might be linked to a recall campaign she said was backed by “a handful of billionaires” in San Francisco and Piedmont that were “hellbent” on running her out of office.
“I plan to be one hundred percent transparent and cooperate with the investigation,” said Mayor Thao, who struck a defiant tone at the news conference. “I have done nothing wrong.”
The mayor said she had not been charged with any crimes and was confident that she would not be charged. She called the FBI raid “troubling” and said she wanted to know what probable cause the FBI had in raiding her home.
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About a dozen federal agents spent around five hours in the mayor’s home Thursday before leaving with multiple boxes. Three other locations were also raided by the FBI that same morning, including the home of David and Andy Duong, who partially own and operate California Waste Solutions, the city’s recycling service.
Thursday’s federal raid came the day after 15 people were shot following a Juneteenth celebration at Lake Merritt.
In Monday’s address, the mayor repeatedly implied the raid on her home was somehow linked to the recall effort against her. She also suggested there had been a coordinated effort behind the scenes and repeatedly made reference to “right wing forces” working against her.
Mayor Thao suggested that if she were “rich” or had gone to an “elite school” she would not have been subjected to the raid.
“I want to know how the TV cameras knew to show up on my street early in the morning,” Thao said. “I have a lot of questions and I want answers, we all will get answers.”
More than once, the mayor said she wanted “answers” in the prepared address, after which she took no questions. She also referred to the recall effort against her as a “waste of time” that was paid for by “a small group of billionaires.”
Over the weekend, the group behind efforts to recall Thao gathered outside Oakland City Hall. The group, which has gathered more than 40,000 signatures, called for Thao to be recalled. Following last week’s shooting and the FBI raid, recall proponents have called for Thao to resign immediately.
On Monday, she made it clear she had no intention of doing so.
“I’m not going down like that,” Thao said. “I will not be bullied, I will not be disparaged, I will not be threatened out of this office.”
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