Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao hasn't issued a statement since FBI agents searched her home Thursday morning, but some local leaders are expressing shock while others are calling for the embattled mayor to step down.
The city was already reeling from a shooting the night before that injured more than a dozen people during a Juneteenth celebration near Lake Merritt. Then federal agents showed up at Thao's home in Oakland's Lincoln Highlands neighborhood Thursday morning and left with multiple boxes.
"As for this morning's FBI raids, I share the shock felt my many, and I call on all of us to remain focused on the important work of realizing a safe, connected and thriving town," Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said Thursday evening on X.
The city has "a cloud hanging over it today," according to Cynthia Adams, president of the Oakland branch of the NAACP.
"While the public should refrain from a rush to judgment, the leadership of the NAACP and its members are calling on Mayor Sheng Thao to resign immediately and spare the city the cost of a recall," Adams said in a statement Thursday night.
"Oaklanders deserve a mayor who is not distracted, fully committed, and able to lead the city. Clearly, Mayor Thao cannot focus on the needs of the residents of Oakland while she addresses the major challenges posed by the FBI raid and investigation," Adams said.
The NAACP has been critical of the mayor in the past, attributing a surge in local crime to Thao's firing of former police chief LeRonne Armstrong in February 2023.
Earlier Thursday, a spokesperson for Thao referred questions to the FBI, while a representative for California Waste Solutions, the company whose executive officers David and Andy Duong were also the subject of FBI activity, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Two homes associated with the Duongs, along with an office building in Oakland, also were searched, FBI officials confirmed.
While the FBI didn't reveal the nature of the investigation, this isn't the first time that Thao's name has been associated with the Duongs.
According to an Oakland Public Ethics Commission official, Andy Duong and Cal Waste Solutions are the subjects of an ongoing investigation into alleged illegal campaign contributions.
Those contributions were allegedly laundered through third parties and given to multiple candidates, including Thao, and an investigation was launched in 2019, said Simon Russell, chief of enforcement for the Ethics Commission.
Russell said he can't comment on whether the ethics commission referred its investigation to the FBI.
The FBI raid was the second blow in as many days for the mayor. On Wednesday, organizers of an effort to recall Thao said they had enough valid signatures to place her ouster on the November ballot.
Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao leaders said they received a notice from the city Tuesday that a sampling of the 40,595 signatures they turned in shows enough are valid to place the recall on a ballot.
