Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao gave an interview to the Chronicle, claiming the FBI has informed her she was not a target in the raid on her home, and insisting that the recall effort against her is 80% funded by one donor who does not even live in Oakland.
Much like Kamala Harris with her recent interviews on Fox News and an array of popular podcasts, embattled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is on her own interview-chasing media blitz. As her recall election looms on November 5, Thao just did an interview with the national publication Politico, with KQED, and also with the Chronicle, all of them published within the last 24 hours.
And while Politico strangely did not even ask about the June 20 FBI raid on her home, the Chronicle did. And Thao made the (yet unverified) claim that the FBI has told her she is not a target of that suspected corruption investigation, as seen in the Chronicle supercut of the interview below.
“The FBI agents, they’ve actually, you know, told my attorney that I am not the target of the investigation,” Thao told the Chronicle. “My attorney has sent them a letter in an email, stating just that. It’s like, it’s been months, and we need you to come out and actually tell the public yourself that I am not the target of this investigation.”
Yes, it is entirely possible that Thao is not suspected of any wrongdoing, and the FBI could have raided her home looking for evidence in a case that does not directly involve her. But it is not confirmed directly by the FBI that Thao is considered innocent.
“It is not appropriate to hear nothing from them,” she said. “We know that this is going to weigh a lot on our voters’ minds when they go to that poll booth.”
And Thao also took aim at what she feels were heavy-handed FBI tactics.
"I haven’t opened up about what took place, but I think now is the time to really open up about what took place that day,” she continued. “When they came into my house at about 6 am that morning, they came with long guns, they came with Glocks, they came with the battering ram, ready to break down the doors, into a sitting mayor’s house."
"For me to ask them to allow me to get dressed so I can get to work, and then having to be forced to get dressed in front of an agent, and not only to get dressed in front of the agent, but I was not allowed to put on my underwear and my bra until they ran their fingers through my underwear and my bra. It was just a complete overreach," Thao said.
The Chronicle adds that “Thao criticized the recall effort in general, saying that it’s mostly funded by an out-of-town billionaire.” That may be a valid complaint. Oakalandside reported in August that about 80% of the recall funding came from one Piedmont hedge fund executive Philip Dreyfuss. Piedmont is technically not a part of Oakland and has its own police department and school district, though it is surrounded on all sides by Oakland.
And on the topic of Oakland’s ongoing crime woes, she took a shot at the police chief she fired, LeRonne Armstrong. "It was under his leadership where crime spiked out of the roof," Thao told the Chronicle.
"When I came into office, crime was on the rise, it had been on the rise since 2019," she added. "We are on track right now, the first time since 2019, to have less than 100 bodies, less than 100 homicides."
So what happens if Thao is recalled? A mess. Oaklandside broke down the line of succession in case of a recall, and notes that the job would be filled by the Oakland City Council president, who is Nikki Fortunato Bas. But Bas is also running for Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and if she wins, that would prevent her from serving as Oakland mayor. Next up would be councilmember Dan Kalb, but he’s running for state Senate instead.
So the Oakland City Council would decide among themselves who would be the new council president, automatically elevating that person to mayor. That would obviously set off weeks of politicking, backstabbing, and secret alliances, and bring yet more chaos into Oakland politics.
Image: @MayorShengThao via Twitter
