OAKLAND MORPHED INTO CHICAGO SO SLOWLY, I HARDLY EVEN NOTICED: Defiant Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao denies any wrongdoing in 1st comments following FBI raid; “I have done nothing wrong.”
Thao blasted the raid [on] her home early Thursday morning which she said came without warning and said the effort to have her recalled from office is a waste of time and city resources.
“I want to know what probable cause the FBI has. What evidence have they collected that justifies raiding the home of a sitting mayor without notice and without the courtesy of a conversation,” said Thao. “I want to know more about the handful of billionaires from San Francisco and Piedmont who are hell-bent on running me out of office. 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.”
Federal authorities have not released any details about the probe or said who is the subject of the investigation.
Thao fought back tears while saying she would not be stepping down from office.
“I will not be bullied and I will not be disparaged and I will not be threatened out of this office,” Thao said. “There are a lot of radical right-wing forces who know they will never win an election in Oakland fair and square.”
And she’s right! The last Republican mayor of Oakland left office in 1977.
As a result of Thao’s freakout: Oakland mayor’s attorney quits after being surprised by news conference.
Embattled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s attorney has resigned as her counsel after the mayor gave a press conference Monday without informing him. Tony Brass, a high-profile attorney who also represents accused Bob Lee killer Nima Momeni, was retained as Mayor Thao’s counsel late last week after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided her Oakland home.
“I have officially withdrawn as Sheng Thao’s counsel,” Brass told Bay City News, via text message.
I blame “radical rightwing forces” for his resignation.
UPDATE: Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s chief of communications resigns following FBI raid. “This comes one day after noted attorney and former federal prosecutor Tony Brass resigned as Thao’s counsel, saying he will no longer represent her just hours after she held a news conference on Monday. He told the ABC7 I-Team’s Dan Noyes he had no idea Thao was going to give that speech and that he would not have approved of the angry tone and conspiracy content.”