After days of silence, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao spoke out today in City Hall with an unequivocal message: “I have done nothing wrong.”
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“I can tell you with confidence this investigation is not about me,” Thao told reporters at a packed press conference on Monday. “I have not been charged with a crime and I am confident I will not be charged with a crime because I am innocent.”
Last Thursday, FBI agents raided the home of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, as well as the homes of David Duong and Andy Duong, the owners of the city’s recycling contractor California Waste Solutions. The FBI hasn’t said anything about why it carried out these searches.
In a 10-minute speech in which the mayor’s tone alternated from outrage to anger and determination, Thao said she was not given the opportunity to cooperate voluntarily with federal investigators, and that she is seeking answers from the US Attorney’s Office to learn why her home was raided. She promised to share information with the public as she receives it.
Thao aggressively questioned the timing of the raid, which occurred just days after a recall campaign targeting her qualified for the ballot and she criticized the recall as a vehicle for “rightwing radical forces” who are trying to undermine progressive causes and leaders in the East Bay.
“I want to know more about the handful of billionaires from San Francisco and Piedmont who are hellbent on running me out of office,” Thao said.
Thao also called out former elected officials who she said have amassed campaign finance violations but will never face a door-knock raid. Her comment appeared to be a reference to an ongoing Public Ethics Commission investigation focused on former Mayor Libby Schaaf.
Thao said she initially believed FBI agents were barging into her house to protect her family. Thao said the leaders of the recall targeting her “empowered a dangerous man with a history of assault weapons violations to further attack me and my family.”
Thao claimed that the way she was treated last week by federal law enforcement is reserved for people like herself, who were “born poor in America” and experience injustice “in every bone of your body.”
“Well guess what? I’m not going down like that. We’re not going down like that,” Thao said. “I will not be bullied and will not be disparaged and I will not be threatened out of this office.”
Thao addresses the mass shooting that wounded 15 at Lake Merritt
The mayor said the FBI will not derail her plans for the city. She said Oakland is working hard to hold the people accountable for the mass shooting that happened at the Juneteenth festival near Lake Merritt on Wednesday. Thao said she will remain focused on having City Council complete the sale of the city’s half of the Coliseum, and approving the annual budget later this week.
She left the press conference without taking questions. Thao’s Chief of Staff Leigh Hanson said the mayor was following the advice of her attorney. Last week Thao’s attorney Tony Brass said he has no information that Thao is or will be the target of any investigation.
Video by Natalie Orenstein.
