Last summer, a Democratic District of Columbia council member, Trayon White Sr., was arrested on charges of accepting more than $150,000 in bribes in exchange for using his influence to benefit companies with city contracts. Trayon unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2022 but has remained active in local politics. Despite his ongoing case, White won reelection in November.
In August, the FBI arrested White, 40, on a federal bribery charge. According to an affidavit from an FBI agent, White agreed to accept approximately $156,000 in kickbacks and cash payments in exchange for his efforts to pressure government agency employees to lengthen two companies’ contracts related to violence intervention services.
Furthermore, White was accused in the affidavit of accepting a $20,000 bribe for his help to resolve a contract dispute for one of the companies by pressuring high-level district officials. An FBI informant also allegedly agreed to plead guilty to fraud and bribery charges, claiming that he gave White gifts which include travel to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia released a statement on White’s arrest and the charges brought against him. “The complaint alleges that, beginning in June 2024, White corruptly agreed to accept $156,000 in cash payments in exchange for using his position as a D.C. Councilmember to pressure government employees at Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and DYRS to extend several D.C. contracts,” the statement read.
It continued, “The contracts at issue were valued at $5.2 million and were for two companies to provide Violence Intervention services in D.C. As alleged, the $156,000 White agreed to accept in exchange for using his official position to pressure renewal of those contracts to particular companies was three percent of the total contract value.”
“According to the complaint, White’s agreement with a confidential human source (the owner of the companies) – including the source’s payments to White of $35,000 in cash on four separate occasions (June 26, July 17, July 25, and August 9, 2024) and the source showing White a document reflecting how White’s three-percent cut was calculated based on those contracts – was captured on video,” the attorney’s office added.
In September, White pleaded not guilty to a charge of federal bribery after prosecutors reportedly offered a plea deal he rejected. A trial date was set last year, where arguments are set to begin on January 12, 2026. “Today was a day we set our trial dates. I’m extremely comfortable with my attorneys. I have two sets of attorneys right now,” White said after a November court hearing. “I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
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He continued, “I am entitled to a due process like everyone else, I’m a citizen, United States of America. Here in D.C., we are concerned about President Trump becoming president and what that can mean for D.C. I’m a Democrat, but I have nothing against the incoming President Trump, but I want to say this. As a citizen, I would expect the Council to give me the same – and the people of Ward 8 – the same justice that we allow the federal government to give us, and that’s the vote of the people. 20,000 people voted for me to be the Councilmember, last week, of Ward 8. And so we are entitled to have our rights heard as well. And so we plan to fight the government in court and just go through the process.”
Watch White address the bribery charges below:
Despite facing a federal bribery charge, DC Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White has easily won reelection. I spoke to White earlier tonight, he says this should send a message to the DC Council that it should not vote to expel him. pic.twitter.com/6Ylb1uCScJ
— Tom Roussey (@tomroussey7news) November 6, 2024
Watch Hakeem Jeffries demand fights “in the streets” against Trump here:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.