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tao and ag are seen carrying out boxes. it was one of at least four locations raided today. the others linked to people associated with california waste solutions. good evening, i'm ama daetz and i'm

dan ashley. >> thanks for joining us. we've been following this developing story since early this morning and it spread out all over oakland. here's what we know. tonight, fbi agents raided the mayor's home on maiden lane before dawn. >> other agents, including from the irs, raided the embarcadero offices of california waste solutions, which runs the city's recycling company. two homes on view, crest court and skyline boulevard, were also raided. >> they are connected to the duong family, which runs california waste solutions. we begin our coverage tonight with abc seven news i-team reporter dan noyes. >> more than a dozen fbi agents emerged from oakland mayor sheng tao's house. after four hours inside, they carried boxes, plastic tubs and trash bags and left without comment. witnesses heard a ruckus before 6 a.m. today. about 6:00 this morning, i heard a male voice yelling to open the door, open the door! nina medina happened to be staying in the neighborhood with friends. she's president of the national latino peace officers association here for a meeting

with the new oakland police chief, the federal government doesn't force or obtain warrants into one's residence without probable cause. >> and when it rises, in my experience, to the level of the federal government, you're talkinabout some significant, issues. >> once the fbi left, i went to tao's door to check reports that had been kicked in or ramm through. there was no damage to the door sill. later mayor tao's partner and fher of her two children, andre jones, emerged with a bag and refused to comment before he left. law enforcement sources tell me this is a public corruption case with the fbi, irs and us postal service working together. agents hit several locations, including the offices of california waste solutions. we spotted irs investigators there. the company was started by david and victor duong, who were under investigation by the public ethics commission for funneling money through straw donors to council members, a story first

reported by oaklandside in 2020. xiang tao allegedly received some of that money. she also traveled with the duong brothers, who funded the trade mission to vietnam last summer. dan noyes, abc seven news the duong family's business, california waste solutions, released this statement. >> it reads california waste solutions is fully aware that federal agents executed search warrants at a number of locations in oakland and related to aws. >> it goes on. the company is fully cooperating with the government's investigation and is confident that government officials will conclude that aws was not involved in any unlawful or improper activities. end of the statement. well, it has certainly been a rough 24 hours for the oakland mayor. >> yesterday, the recall petition was allowed to move forward and there was the shooting over by lake merritt. now, the fbi paid a visit to her home. we haven't seen or heard from her so far. >> we have not. an abc seven news reporter, tim johns, is outside her house tonight where some protesters showed up

earlier. tim, what's happening? >> yeah. dan. umma, like you say, even at this hour, we haven't seen or heard anything from oakland mayor shang tao. i've been on the phone, texting, calling her office, various staffers, all of them. radio silence, news of this raid, though, has shocked the oakland community and many members here demanding answers from the missing mayor. >> clean house, clean house protesters gathered outside the home of oakland mayor shang tao thursday afternoon, demanding her resignation after an fbi raid of the house early in the morning. >> while the official cause of the raid is still unknown, sources tell abc seven news it's a political corruption case involving tao and some of her supporters. law enforcement also raiding at least three other spots thursday, including the offices of california waste solutions, a company that was under investigation for funneling money through straw donors to council members. >> i was shocked, just as everybody else outside tao's

house, tuan noh says he thinks the mayor avoiding the public is making matters worse. >> he believes that what oakland needs now more than ever is transparency. >> the mayor should explain to the residents what's going on. she should step out, show leadership and say how she's helping oakland. >> abc seven news reached out to nearly all of the members of the oakland city council thursday. most of them declined to comment or go on camera. we did catch up with council member carol fife, however, as she was leaving a closed door council session in the evening. >> we don't know what's going on. this is not something that the council was briefed on that the oakland police department told us about. i don't think that they were involved. so i have very little to say because we have very little information during the raid, officers were seen carrying out boxes, plastic tubs and trash bags full of items. >> law enforcement expert doctor lisa hill has conducted investigations with federal authorities before. she says the raid is not just a bad look for the struggling city. hill tells me, given that the raid was so public in nature, she believes

the fbi thinks it has a strong case against tao. >> maybe they're not even included. the local, you know, city law enforcement, but they're being kept in the dark. this it has all the looks of a pretty serious situation >> and, dan, umma, i'm told that the fbi's raid here at tao's house lasted about four hours today. i'm live in oakland tonight. tim johns abc seven news. >> all right, tim, thank you for that. and raids also took place in a quiet neighborhood in the hills of oakland. a neighbor who did not want to be identified, said she heard the fbi say they were carrying out a federal warrant. >> and then i started hearing, uh, this is the fbi. open up. come out with your hands up. >> the house belongs to andy duong, who is listed as director at california waste solutions, a recycling company that serves oakland. around 11 a.m, the fbi inspected a mdes benz parked outside the house. 30 minutes later, an unidentified couple

leaving the house drove off in that vehicle. meanwhile u.s. postal inspectors collected evidence at a nearby house that belongs to david duong, andy's father, who is listed as california waste solutions ceo. >> now, abc seven insider phil matier was there when the raids began early this morning, and he joined us earlier today to talk about the recall effort and what the raid means for the city of