This morning, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao addressed the FBI’s recent raid of her home, emphasizing that she has “done nothing wrong” and has “not been charged with a crime.”
The FBI raided the mayor’s house in the early hours of the morning last Thursday, June 20. Mayor Thao had previously only spoken through her attorney. But around 10:30 a.m. on Monday morning, she addressed the raid herself.
The mayor began her speech by discussing the shooting at Lake Merritt on Juneteenth, saying that she is “sickened by the senseless acts of violence.” She assured the community that those responsible would be “held accountable.”
Then the mayor addressed the raid.
The mayor says she will cooperate fully with the investigation and be “100 percent transparent.”
“And I want to be crystal clear. I have done nothing wrong,” she said in her speech. “I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me. I have not been charged with a crime and I am confident that I will not be charged with a crime because I am innocent.”
The mayor said that she is seeking answers from the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office, questioning why she was not afforded the opportunity to voluntarily cooperate. She also questioned the timing of the raid, which came the day after a campaign to recall her from office was approved and was presumably leaked to the media ahead of time.
Mayor Thao said that, as a mother, her priority during the raid was to ensure that she and her son were safe. At first, she believed that the FBI was there to protect her, noting that the recall campaign had empowered “a dangerous man with a history of assault weapons violations to further attack me and my family.”
The mayor argued that this would not have happened to her if she grew up as a part of the wealthy elite.
“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. Their front doors remain intact. their reputations preserve their innocence presumed until proven guilty,” she said.
An emotional Thao, with tears in her eyes, said she is the mayor for the Oaklanders who are working “overtime to do the right thing, and to make the world a better place.” She plans to continue that work while cooperating with the investigation and “seeking the truth.”
“But I will not be bullied, and I will not be disparaged and I will not be threatened out of this office,” she said.
“I will continue to lift up those most vulnerable to lead by example, to prove that this system might not be designed for us, but we can and we will build a brighter future for our children,” she added later. “This is my mission as your mayor and I thank you for seeing me in this moment.”
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This assault by the FBI on innocent AAHPIs occurred without due process and had the effect of violating the duly elected Mayor of Oakland. No charges were filed to warrant the raid, but it unethically damaged the Oakland citizens who duly elected Mayor Thao as the City’s Mayor. The assault is no different from that found in developing countries, and the lesson being taught is that SEAsians can run, but they cannot hide. Due process requires that the FBI explains their act to violate Mayor Thao’s civil right of due process.