LA Mayor Karen Bass appointee who oversaw fire department was put on leave over alleged city hall bomb threat
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ deputy mayor — whose purview included oversight of the city’s fire department — was placed on administrative leave last month after the FBI raided his home in connection to an alleged bomb threat he made against city hall.
The Los Angeles Police Department said at the time that Deputy Mayor Brian Williams was likely the “source of the threat,” but the feds later took the lead on the investigation due to Williams’ close connections with the LAPD.
Williams was hand-picked by the embattled mayor in February 2023, and given significant public safety responsibility in his role.
Among his duties were overseeing the city’s police department, fire department, the Port of Los Angeles Police, the Los Angeles World Airport Police and the city’s Emergency Management Department, according to an ABC News report.
The raid came less than three weeks before LA erupted in flames under Bass’ watch, and the resurrection of the story in the news cycle in light of the fires has raised new questions about her leadership judgment.
Upon being told about the raid on her appointee’s home, Bass put out a statement that echoed nearly verbatim her defense of the city’s response to the deadly wildfires that have ravaged LA County for more than a week.
“My number one job is to keep Angelenos safe,” the statement read in part. “The only way to do that is to hold people who commit crimes accountable and to take real steps to prevent crime from happening in the first place.”
Williams has not been arrested or charged with a crime, but he remains on administrative leave. His attorney Dmitry Gorin said he “strongly maintains his innocence.”
Bass, 71 — who was once on President Joe Biden’s shortlist for vice president — has been raked over the coals for her response to the wildfire crisis, which has burned an area nearly the size of Brooklyn and claimed 24 lives and counting since Jan. 7.
The mayor was in Ghana during the start of the fires, attending the inauguration of the African nation’s president, but claims she was being briefed