After FBI raid, defiant Oakland mayor says she did nothing wrong and will not resign

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — In her first public remarks since federal authorities raided her home last week, a defiant and furious mayor of Oakland, California, said she did not do anything wrong and she has no plans to resign from office.

Mayor Sheng Thao read from a prepared statement and took no questions Monday, four days after FBI agents carried boxes out of the home she shares with her son and partner as part of an investigation that included searches of two other houses owned by another family.

Thao said the timing of the very public raid was suspicious as it came days after backers of a mayoral recall were informed by the city clerk that they had collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, likely in November. Backers of the recall say public safety and economic vitality have worsened under the politically progressive mayor, and that she should not have fired Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong.

The city desperately needs “active, engaged and competent leadership” in this trying time, wrote Cynthia Adams, president of the Oakland chapter of the NAACP in an emailed statement.

“It is telling that no other city officials have defended the mayor, nor do any of them even seem to be in contact with her,” she said.

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