International Courant
Oakland’s embattled mayor Sheng Thao gave her first public remarks Monday after federal brokers raided her residence.
“I need to be crystal clear. I’ve achieved nothing flawed,” Thao mentioned, studying ready remarks from the rostrum. “I can inform you with confidence that this investigation is just not about me. I’ve not been charged with a criminal offense, and I’m assured I can’t be charged with a criminal offense as a result of I’m harmless.”
Her remarks, carried by FOX 2, come 4 days after FBI brokers carried bins out of the house she shares along with her son and accomplice as a part of an investigation that included searches of two different homes owned by one other household.
Thao mentioned the timing of the very public raid was “troubling” because it got here days after backers of a mayoral recall have been knowledgeable by the town clerk that they’d collected sufficient signatures to qualify for the poll, possible in November.
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Mayor Sheng Thao reacts whereas delivering her first State of the Metropolis deal with at Metropolis Corridor in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Occasions by way of Getty Photos)
Thao derided the recall marketing campaign as a waste of time and assets. She urged {that a} handful of billionaires from San Francisco and Piedmont are “hellbent” on working her out of workplace.
“I need to know why the day following the qualification of a recall election, funded by a few of the richest folks within the Bay Space, appeared like the appropriate day to execute a warrant,” Thao mentioned.
FBI brokers carry bins out of a house related to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao throughout a raid in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury Information by way of Getty Photos)
Backers of the recall say public security and financial vitality have worsened beneath the politically progressive mayor, and that she mustn’t have fired Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong.
It seems Thao and her son have been residence Thursday morning throughout the raid. She mentioned her first precedence was to verify they have been protected.
Brokers additionally searched two houses owned by members of the politically influential Duong household that owns the recycling firm Cal Waste Options. The agency has been investigated over marketing campaign contributions to Thao and different elected metropolis officers, the native information outlet Oaklandside reported in 2020.
Earlier than resigning Monday, Thao’s legal professional, Tony Brass, mentioned that the Oakland Mayor was not the goal of the current investigation.
“Mayor Thao is prepared, prepared and in a position to cooperate totally with federal investigators. She has nothing to cover,” Brass mentioned.
Brass resigned Monday after Mayor Thao gave a press convention with out informing him, per reporting from KRON 4.
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Thao, 38, took workplace in 2023. She is of Hmong descent and says she grew up poor.
“And when my mother and father got here to this nation fleeing genocide, they by no means may have imagined that their daughter would someday be mayor of Oakland. I’m my ancestors’ wildest dream,” she mentioned. “And I’m your mayor: Mayor Sheng Thao.”
Fox Information Digital’s Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and The Related Press contributed to this report.
Bradford Betz is a Fox Information Digital breaking reporter protecting crime, political points, and far more.
Oakland mayor breaks silence after FBI raid
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