Watch: Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao press conference

good morning I'm Lee Hansen mayor to Chief of Staff as I shared ear the mayor will read a statement we will not be taking questions at this time if you have questions regarding the city business following this press conference you can reach out to the mayor's office and we'll be happy to respond comments today will be focused uh on the shooting at Lake Merritt and the FBI raid of the mayor's home again I will ask respectfully the mayor will not be responding to questions following her statement at the advice of her attorney thank you good morning first and foremost I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to oaklands about the events that have taken place over the last few days on Wednesday night a large unsanctioned gathering at Lake mer turned violent many people were assaulted including over a dozen struck by gunfire I am sickened by this senseless acts of violence and I want every oaklander to know that we will work hard to ensure that those responsible are held accountable my heart goes out to all of those who are battling injuries their families in our whole city the next morning as we were dealing with this trauma of the shooting at Lake Merritt our city woke up to the the news that the FBI had raided the home that I share with my partner and our family you all deserve to hear directly from me about this event I plan to be 100% transparent and cooperate fully with this investigation and I want to be crystal clear I have done nothing wrong I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me I have not been charged with the crime and I am confident that I will not be charged with a crime because I am innocent just like you I am seeking answers from the US attorney about what is happening and why I was and why I wasn't offered the opportunity to cooperate voluntarily as I receive information from the FBI and the US attorney that I am authorized to share I will share it with you all nothing is going to distract me from building on the progress we have made in the last 18 months I am going to focus on doing what I came here to do so let me tell you about what we have been doing since Thursday operations of the city have continued without interruption as they do every day in the capable hands of our amazing City administrator Justin Johnson I'm grateful to administrator Johnson and the entire city Workforce for remaining focused and dedicated to delivering services to the residents of Oakland the work of making Oakland cleaner and safer continues my role as your mayor continues I will remain focused on supporting the city council as they vote to pass a balanced budget this week we will complete the transaction for the sale of the Coliseum property to the African-American Sports Entertainment Group I will not allow for historic investment in East Oakland to be derailed and we will continue to address crime headon the timing of all this is troubling and we should all be concerned we now have an active recall campaign that is a waste of time and public resources and I have questions questions that need to be answered I want to know what probable cause the FBI has what evidence have they collected that justifies raiding the home of a city mayor without notice and without the courtesy of a conversation I want to know more about the handful of billionaires from San Francisco and from pedmont who are hellbent 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 rich richest people in the Bay Area seemed like the right day to execute a warrant I want to know how the TV cameras knew to show up on my sleepy residential street so early in the morning to capture footage of the raid and I want to know why Fox News and Breitbart were so prepared to Fan the flames and to tell a story that they want to tell to bend the facts to shape a narrative I have a lot of questions and I will get answers we all will get answers like any mother my first priority immediately following the FBI intrusion was to ensure that my son and I were safe it's hard to imagine now by the time my first thought was that the FBI was at my door to help me to protect me just hours prior a small group of billionaires from pedmont in San Francisco had succeeded Ed in buying a recall election to OU me in November and in doing so they were not only aiming to undermine the outcome of a fair and free election but they empowered a dangerous man with the history of assault weapons violations to further attack me and my family when the FBI broke into my house I thought the worst had happened that my choice to serve my city as a public official had threatened the physical safety of my family my worst nightmare but what it would turn out to be a nightmare of a different U of an entirely different kind when you are in that much shock and your life has been turned upside down and in an instant it is hard to know who you can't trust but what I do know is that this wouldn't have gone down the way it did if I was rich if I had gone to elite private schools or if I had come from money 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 preserved their innocence presumed until proven guilty they will never face this indignity this I know for sure because I was born poor in America and that teaches you a lot about the world from day one

Channel: KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA

Views: 18,967

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Id: cCtyKZVxBMg

Length: 8min 17sec (497 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 24 2024