Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Breaks Silence After FBI Raids, Refusing to Step Down

Updated 12:23 p.m. Monday

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao struck a defiant tone on Monday in her first public comments since the FBI raided her home last week, saying that she had done nothing wrong and that she would not step down.

“I will not be bullied, I will not be disparaged, and I will not be threatened out of this office,” Thao said in a news conference at City Hall. She read from a statement and did not take questions from reporters.

Thao, who faces a recall election and mounting pressure from some community leaders to resign, had been silent in the days since Thursday morning’s FBI raids, which came just hours after over a dozen people were shot following a Juneteenth celebration near Lake Merritt.

She said Monday that she will continue to lead Oakland.

“Nothing is going to distract me from building on the progress that we have made in the last 18 months. I am going to focus on doing what I came here to do.”

Thao was already under scrutiny before the FBI raid. A campaign to recall her qualified for November’s ballot early last week as organizers blame the mayor for the city’s high crime, delay in hiring a police chief and disappointing departure of the Oakland A’s baseball team.

The raids targeted Thao’s home; the offices of California Waste Solutions, Oakland’s curbside recycling provider; and two homes linked to the family that owns and operates the company.

Federal authorities have not disclosed what they are investigating, but Thao is also among officials named in an investigation by local and state political watchdog agencies that allege Cal Waste used straw donors to illegally fund political campaigns.

Thao said that she would cooperate with the FBI, maintaining that she was confident that the investigation was not targeting her. During her statement, she raised questions about the timing of the raid and the recall effort against her.

“I want to know more about the handful of billionaires from San Francisco and from Piedmont who are hell-bent on running me out of office,” she said. “I want to know why the day following the qualification of a recall election, funded by some of the richest people in the Bay Area, seemed like the right day to execute a warrant?”

Thao also asked what probable cause the FBI had to raid her home, saying authorities gave no notice or “the courtesy of a conversation.” Through tears, she said she felt confident that the situation would have unfolded differently if she had a different background.

“I know that for sure because former elected officials are sitting safely in their houses in the hills right now with campaign finance violations piling up, mountains of evidence that prove actual wrongdoing,” said Thao, whose parents fled Laos during the Vietnam War.

“Their front doors remain intact, their reputations preserved, their innocence presumed until proven guilty. They will never face this indignity. This I know for sure because I was born poor in America, and that teaches you a lot about the world from day one.”

Thao said that her office would continue to focus on daily operations and the city’s recovery in the wake of last Wednesday’s shooting.

“I am sickened by these senseless acts of violence, and I want every Oaklander to know that we will work hard to ensure that those responsible are held accountable,” Thao said.

“My heart goes out to all of those who are battling injuries, their families and our whole city.”