XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans, sac.politics
XPost: talk.politics.guns
From: left.wing@gmail.com
On 23 Jun 2024, Cornelius B posted some
news:v5aq3l$ogt4$18@dont-email.me:
> News
Democrats are crooks!
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In the day since the raid on Oakland Mayor Sheng
Thao's home and several other locations, we've been getting new
information about the political corruption investigation from someone
interviewed by the FBI. It's the mayor's former chief of staff, and she
spoke to the I-Team's Dan Noyes. She described an office filled with
confusion and chaos - much of it centered around the mayor's partner,
Andre Jones, and that finally led her to resign her position as the
mayor's chief of staff.
"Not only did I run her office, I was very instrumental in helping run her
campaign," Renia Webb said.
RELATED: Silence from Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao after FBI raided her home
Webb tells us she served as chief of staff for Thao for a year-and-a-half,
and that she questioned the amount of money Andy Duong was funneling to
the campaign. Webb says she shared her concerns with the FBI in a meeting
on February 3, 2023; she gave us texts and emails from the FBI that
confirmed the meeting.
Renia Webb: "And just the line of questioning I could tell that they had
already been looking into, you know, some of their kind of pay-to-play
type of activities."
Dan Noyes: "Oh, really? What sorts of things were they saying in terms of
the questions about pay-to-play?"
Renia Webb: "Just about board appointments, about contracts, about Andy,
you know about the Duong family."
Webb says she knew Thursday's raid by the FBI was coming. We spotted Andy
Duong leaving his house, and his name on evidence boxes that IRS agents
carried out of the Duong family business, California Waste Solutions.
RELATED: FBI raids Oakland mayor's home, several other locations in
political corruption probe: source
The Oakland Public Ethics Commission lead investigator confirms to the I-
Team that the Duongs are still under investigation for a money laundering
scheme. Court documents we've reviewed allege that Andy Duong arranged
contributions to candidates, including Sheng Thao, using straw donors.
Some of the phony donors allegedly came from Phuc Tran, President of the
Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce. In response, Phuc Tran said he wouldn't
cooperate in the investigation based on his Fifth Amendment right "to be
free from being compelled to incriminate himself."
Webb tells us the end for her as chief of staff came on the day Thao was
sworn in, and that the mayor's partner, tried to bring his ex-wife into
the ceremony. "And then finally, I was like, 'Andre, I don't know what's
wrong with you, but you got to get the hell out of here.' I was like, this
is too much. I don't know what's going on. Sheng was crying. She was like,
why would you do this to me on my day like this is crazy."
MORE: Recall organizers call on Oakland mayor to resign after measure
garners enough signatures for ballot
Webb tells us she texted Thao during the raid, to say she's praying for
the mayor.
"She has a good heart. And she came in this wanting to do it. But
sometimes that power and that machine just takes people to another level,"
said Webb. "In the wrong direction... and we're all paying the consequence
for it."
Thao has hired a new lawyer who says they have no information that she is
the target of any investigation. Webb also says Andre Jones, who is not an
employee of the City of Oakland, was trying to get jobs and positions for
Mayor Thao's donors and supporters.
https://abc7news.com/post/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-former-chief-staff-fbi-
meeting-raid/14986285/
--- SoupGate-DOS v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
