West
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was not target of FBI raid on home, lawyer says
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GettyImages-2158502016-e1719074243206.jpg)
The California mayor whose home was raided by the FBI this week is not the target of the relevant investigation, her lawyer claims.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is denying any wrongdoing that led to the Thursday raid of multiple properties, including the home and business of a campaign donor.
“Mayor Thao is ready, willing and able to cooperate fully with federal investigators. She has nothing to hide,” said attorney Tony Brass, who is representing Thao.
FBI RAIDS HOME CONNECTED TO OAKLAND MAYOR SHENG THAO DAY AFTER RECALL EFFORT QUALIFIES FOR BALLOT
FBI agents carry boxes out of a home associated with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao during a raid in Oakland, California. (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)
“It’s unfortunate that she has had to endure the bad optics of having this search warrant executed on her home,” Brass continued in the press statement. “She would have cooperated with this investigation without the need for this search.”
No arrests were made at any of the properties and the FBI has not charged Thao with any crime.
“[Thao] will continue to do the work Oakland expects from their mayor and provide the federal government with whatever information they are seeking. We have no information that she is or will be the target of this or any investigation,” Brass concluded.
OAKLAND MAYOR TO FACE LANDMARK RECALL ELECTION AFTER ORGANIZERS DEMAND HER OUSTER
![oakland mayor](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Oakland-Mayor-Sheng-Thao-was-not-target-of-FBI-raid.png)
Mayor Sheng Thao reacts while delivering her first State of the City address at City Hall in Oakland, California. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
Alongside Thao’s residence, FBI agents raided 4320 View Crest Court, a property connected to Andy Duong, who is part owner of California Waste Solutions, FOX 40 reported.
The recycling company was previously investigated over campaign contributions to Thao, per reporting from The Oaklandside.
The FBI also reportedly carried out a raid at 1211 Embarcadero Way in Oakland, which is home to California Waste Solutions and the headquarters of the Vietnamese American Business Association (VABA). The organization is run by the Duong family and led a U.S. business delegation to Vietnam last year.
![FBI agents get in their unmarked vehicles after a raid at a home associated with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, June 20, 2024.](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/1719368982_717_Oakland-Mayor-Sheng-Thao-was-not-target-of-FBI-raid.jpg)
FBI agents get in their unmarked vehicles after a raid at a home associated with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)
Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao (OUST) submitted its petition two weeks ago, and on Wednesday, officials in Alameda County confirmed they had met the threshold of 25,000 voter signatures.
Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
Read the full article from Here
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Oregon
Oregon Ethics Commission nixes investigation into Gov. Kotek, First Lady
![Oregon Ethics Commission nixes investigation into Gov. Kotek, First Lady](https://www.koin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/AP22138123310236.jpg?w=1280)
The commission said its analysis would be different if Aimee Kotek Wilson received a salary or other private benefits
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Government Ethics Commission has decided against launching a full investigation into complaints concerning Gov. Tina Kotek and her wife, Aimee Kotek Wilson.
At a meeting on Friday, the agency examined the preliminary report on the case involving a potential Office of the First Spouse before determining that the governor did not violate any ethics laws — including those on conflicts of interest or nepotism.
“We note that had the Governor unilaterally decided to provide the First Lady with a salary or other private benefits, the above analysis would be different,” the commission wrote in its preliminary review. “The analysis would also be different if there was any suggestion that the public duties of the First Lady could financially benefit a private business with which the First Lady was associated.”
In late March, news broke that Kotek Wilson had an office in the governor’s base of operations at the state library and an on-loan staffer from the Department of Administration Services. With a master’s degree in social work, the First Lady was also known to attend official meetings regarding behavioral health.
The following week, the governor clarified that her wife was solely an “unpaid volunteer with both lived and professional experience.” Kotek also announced she had asked the Ethics Commission for guidance on a potential Office of the First Spouse, but the commission later said it couldn’t advise her because of its plans to review complaints on the same matter.
Subsequently, the governor abandoned plans to create the First Lady’s office.
“After listening to and reflecting on the concerns of Oregonians who have contacted my office, as well as the advice of staff, I want to be clear about next steps: There will not be an Office of the First Spouse,” Kotek said.
The announcement came after her office released several emails from senior staff members who abruptly left their positions earlier in the year. In one email, Kotek’s former Chief of Staff Andrea Cooper said she was “asked not to attend” a meeting where events were added to Kotek Wilson’s calendar.
Utah
Utah gets $20 million for transportation and traffic light technology
![Utah gets $20 million for transportation and traffic light technology](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/057952a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4608x2419+0+155/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe5%2F76%2Fc0dec5284bd3a795fb0da877d733%2Fgreen-line-trax-at-gallivan-plaza.jpg)
The Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation has announced a $20 million grant to Utah.
Drivers of snow plows, public transportation buses, and other government-operated vehicles are using technology that can direct traffic lights to change in order to improve safety and travel time.
Under the “Saving Lives and Connectivity: Accelerating V2X Deployment” program, Utah will receive $20 million of the $60 million that is aimed to improve vehicle technologies. The other $40 million will go to Texas and Arizona.
“Connecting vehicles and infrastructure is a great way for us to be able to take advantage of technology to help improve safety and other outcomes. And Utah’s DOT has been a leader in this space for a long time,” Shailen Bhatt, US Federal Highway Administrator said.
UDOT will use this $20 million to fund projects in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming, where each state represents different population concentrations and transportation facilities.
Bhatt says protecting personal private information can be one of the challenges when using these types of technology.
“So we will want people to understand what is being exchanged is called a basic safety message of DSM. The vehicle is going to report to the intersection that I’m approaching, and the intersection is going to report back ‘oh, the light is about to turn red or my light is red’, but it’s all anonymous data,” Bhatt said.
The technology is being used in Salt Lake City, where travel time reliability and bus performance have improved.
“It is unequivocal that when you deploy technology, we are able to reduce crashes, we’re able to reduce congestion, we’re able to reduce the amount of time people sit in traffic, and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from our system. And we look forward to more investments being made on the basis of the data that we get from this initial deployment,” Bhatt said.
Washington
Analysis | A banner 12 hours for the GOP and Trump
It was a banner 12 hours for the American political right, the likes of which we’ve rarely seen in recent years.
But how good was it for them — and bad for the left?
To recap, Biden’s debate performance immediately led to significant fretting on the left about his ability to carry the torch forward, even leading some to float replacing him on the ballot at August’s Democratic National Convention. That was followed by the Supreme Court on Friday morning: 1) delivering a significant setback to the government’s prosecutions of Donald Trump allies over the Jan. 6 insurrection, and 2) delivering conservatives a long-awaited win overturning crucial four-decade-old precedent in the Chevron vs. Natural Resources Defense Council case.
The final event might actually be the most significant and long-lasting. The Supreme Court overturned a 1984 precedent that said courts should largely defer to federal agency officials in interpreting laws. That sounds technical and obscure, but the ruling could be massive. It could severely hamper the ability of the government to do things like combat climate change and regulate big business, shrinking the role of government and experts in American life.
The impact of the Jan. 6 decision is more nuanced, but it’s significant both practically and politically. Basically, the court ruled that the government used a federal law — obstructing or impeding an official proceeding — too broadly in charging a Jan. 6 defendant. That same law has been used against hundreds of other Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump himself.
The Justice Department quickly sought to downplay the ruling. It noted that 82 percent of more than 1,400 Jan. 6 defendants weren’t charged with or haven’t been convicted of that particular crime. It also noted that just 2 percent of those currently serving prison sentences were convicted of that crime and no other felony. The implication: This isn’t about to free a bunch of prisoners.
It could also have limited impact on Trump personally, given he’s charged with other Jan. 6-related offenses. But it’s still a massive headache with untold consequences.
Perhaps as significantly, though, it gave Trump rare, actual political ammunition in his years-long effort to downplay Jan. 6 and accuse the government of going too far in prosecuting him and his supporters.
Trump’s claims about the “weaponization” of the justice system and his proposal to pardon Jan. 6 defendants haven’t really caught on beyond his base. But it’s a decision he can use to make those cases, the former of which has largely rested on conspiracy theories and misleading claims. The Supreme Court effectively said the government has gone too far, at least in one case. And notably, the Supreme Court’s majority in the case included liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (though Jackson suggested the ruling shouldn’t spare too many Jan. 6 defendants from their charges).
That doesn’t mean Trump will be able to completely flip the script or anything close to it; these are complicated issues that won’t have much immediate fallout. But it’s certainly a foothold he didn’t have before.
The impact of Thursday night’s debate will come into focus more quickly as we get polling that gauges just how much damage Biden might have done to himself.
We’ve so far got limited data, including two snap polls showing about twice as many people said Trump won the debate as said Biden did. This includes CNN polling, which in 2020 had shown the opposite: Biden lapping Trump in those debates. The CNN poll also showed debate-watchers’ favorable views of Biden dropping by six points (to just 31 percent) and favorable views of Trump rising by three points (to 43 percent).
We’ll see what happens, but those are inauspicious early signs for a Democratic Party that had already been panicky about its 2024 chances. And the performance can’t help but drive home already-prevalent voter concerns about Biden’s age and mental sharpness; it was practically an hour-and-a-half-long advertisement for Republicans about what is arguably Biden’s biggest liability.
Should Biden’s polls indeed take a turn for the worse, it’s likely we’ll see an even more earnest discussion about turning the page on him. But that discussion itself would be fraught for the party.
Which means the blows could keep coming.
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