U.S. Attorney’s Office Subpoenas Oakland For Documents Pertaining to Mayor Thao

A federal subpoena asking for all documents and records pertaining to the current issues surrounding the FBI raid on 4 locations last month, including Mayor Sheng Thao’s home, was released this week, with city officials working with federal investigators.

Since mid-June, Mayor Thao’s political career in Oakland has been rocked by a series of negative events and scandals. On June 18th, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters announced that enough signatures have been approved to officially put the recall vote against Mayor Sheng Thao on the ballot, with Thao becoming the first Mayor in Oakland history to ever face a recall election. The recall effort, headed by the Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao (OUST) group, had gained a record number of signatures for the recall election, citing a raise in crime, erosion of public safety, the controversial firing of a police chief, her inability to keep the Oakland Athletics in the city, and her failure to get a major crime grant as reasons for her to be recalled.

Only two days later, her home in Oakland was raided by the FBI, with agents being seen carrying out boxes of evidence. While the official reason wasn’t immediately announced by the FBI, evidence and other raids conducted by the FBI have shown that it likely has to do with an investigation into alleged illegal campaign contributions.

Thao remained out of the public eye during this time and into the weekend, during which, she faced an increasing number of calls to resign. Finally, on Monday, she gave a press conference. There, Thao spoke to the media for the first time since the incidents, claiming she was innocent of any wrongdoing and that ‘right-wing forces’ were behind the entire incident. That outburst cost her critical support, and led to many allies resigning or distancing themselves from her. Since then, calls for her resignation have continued, but a lack of new updates and Thao staying out of the public for as much of possible helped quell things in early July. Thao did state in an interview last week that her partner was not involved in any official work with her office and again maintained her innocence, but for the most part, that was about it.

However, that changed this week when a new subpoena came out. While the official reason of the raid still isn’t in the light of day, the subpoena makes it more obvious exactly what the reason was for them. The subpoena, from the U.S. Attorney’s office, goes straight to Oakland’s City Attorney for all Oakland City Hall Employees. All records and documents involving California Waste Solutions, of whom 3 of the 4 raids conducted last month were directly tied to, need to be given to the U.S. Attorney’s office. In addition, they want all records and documents pertaining to a group called Evolutionary Homes, the mayor’s partner Andre Jones, the 2022 mayoral election, and the development of the former Oakland army base. Most critically, all documents are also wanted pertaining to Thao and Jones from June 1, 2022 to the present.

Subpoenas in Oakland

While Thao has not been charged with any crimes, the subpoena made it clear that investigators are looking into possible links between Thao may have done before being Mayor, while campaigning to be Mayor, and afterwards. The investigation is to take months, with Federal Grandy jury indictments coming out afterwards.

Following the subpoena being sent out, Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker sent out around 100 letters to employees, telling them to not delete or alter any pertaining documents. This included all city council members.

“Sadly enough, we’re at this point now and I’m trying to re-establish confidence and respect from the public due to the lack of safety we’re experiencing, and certainly this isn’t going to help us at all,” said Oakland Councilman Noel Gallo.

Political watchers told the Globe that the subpoena proves that federal investigators are still narrowing down their investigation.

“They are really getting down to who they are looking at,” explained Alameda County pollster Elena Sierra to the Globe on Thursday. “You don’t just fire off a subpoena like that out of nowhere. They know where the relevant info is.”

“Thao has been lucky the last few weeks to be kicked out of the news cycle, at least in the large part. The whole Biden thing and other local issues are keeping everything around the federal probe to a minimum. But this subpoena proves that something big is building, which may possible include some trouble on the horizon for Thao and Jones. She cannot afford another major blow politically speaking. But it looks like that just might happen.”

More on the federal probe is expected to come out soon.