Mayor Sheng Thao struck a defiant tone Monday in her first public remarks since the FBI raided her house last week — questioning federal agents’ motives and vowing that “I will not be threatened out of this office.”
“I want to be crystal clear: I have done nothing wrong,” Thao said.
Thao’s comments came four days after the FBI’s surprise raids across the city, which centered on a politically influential family in charge of the city’s contracted recycling company. Federal agents hauled numerous boxes and duffel bags stuffed with items from Thao’s Oakland Hills house, though the mayor has not been arrested or charged with a crime. Thao lives at the home with her partner, Andre Jones, who like Thao is a former chief of staff for an Oakland councilmember.
Reading from a prepared statement, Thao suggested that the situation “wouldn’t have gone down the way it did if I was rich.”
“I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me,” Thao said. “I have not been charged with a crime, and I am confident I will not be charged with a crime, because I am innocent.”
Wiping a tear from her eye, she took aim at her detractors, vowing that “I’m not going down like that — we’re not going down like that.” She defended herself against the recall effort targeting her, and she wondered aloud why the raids happened so soon after the recall question qualified for the November ballot.
“The people who voted for me deserve to have their voices heard,” Thao said. “I will not be bullied, and I will not be disparaged and I will not be threatened out of this office.”
Before the press conference started, Thao’s chief of staff, Leigh Hanson, told reporters that the mayor would not be taking questions, on the advice of her attorney.
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The press conference came just minutes before the planned start of a rally organized by the leaders of that effort, which was slated to happen outside City Hall. Earlier in the morning, the leaders had released a statement calling on Thao to either “return to City Hall or resign.”
Also targeted in the raids were two …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
