Embattled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao blasted the federal investigation that led to the FBI raiding her California home last week — claiming if she was rich and went to an elite school she wouldn’t have been targeted.
Thao, who is facing a recall fate in November over rising crime and the departure of the Oakland A’s, was defiant in her first remarks since agents were seen at a home where she lives.
“I want to be crystal clear: I have done nothing wrong,” Thao said Monday.
“I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me.”
She claimed that she was being targeted when other politicians have done much worse.
“This wouldn’t have gone down the way it did if I was rich, if I had gone to elite private schools or if I had come from money,” she said.
“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.”
Thao’s home was raided early Thursday morning along with two other homes in the Oakland area belonging to David and Andy Duong, a father-and-son team who run California Waste Solutions and have recycling contracts with Oakland, NBC Bay Area reported.
Both Duongs have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to local politicians over the years, including to Thao.
It remains unclear exactly what the investigation concerns, but agents were seen carting boxes out of Thao’s home during the raid.
Thao, who shares the house with her partner, was apparently home with her son when the FBI arrived.
The mayor became emotional during the press conference, wiping away tears as she recalled growing up as the daughter of poor refugees.
“When my parents came to this country fleeing genocide, they never could have imagined that their daughter would one day be mayor of Oakland. I am my ancestors’ wildest dream,” she said.
“And I am your mayor: Mayor Sheng Thao.”
Not everybody wants it to be that way, however.
Since she took office in 2023, crime in Oakland has sharply increased, with violent crime and burglaries rising more than 20% from the year prior.
Some have of blamed the progressive Thao for the troubles, and in May a petition for a recall vote gained the necessary 25,000 signatures needed to bring it to ballot this November.