D.C. Council member Trayon White will not stand trial on a federal bribery charge for more than a year. News4’s Mark Segraves reports.
D.C. Council member Trayon White will not face trial on a federal bribery charge for more than a year.
A judge on Wednesday agreed to delay the trial until January of 2026.
In court, White's public defenders asked the judge to delay the trial, arguing they need more time to get up to speed on the case.
White recently changed his attorneys from private counsel to use the public defender's office. News4 has reached out to the Public Defender Service for D.C. for comment on how White qualifies for a public defender considering his $161,000 salary.
After the hearing, White didn't answer reporter questions, but gave a statement outside the courthouse.
"I am entitled to a due process like everyone else. I'm a citizen of the 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," White said.
Shortly after the election, White took to social media to tout Trump's victory, saying, "Ladies please stop blaming Black men for this." He then criticized Vice President Kamala Harris in the post, which he later deleted.
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Despite the federal indictment, Ward 8 residents reelected White to the Council last week.
"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 just the vote of the people. Twenty-thousand people voted for me to be the Council member last week … in Ward 8," Ward said. "And so we plan to fight the government in court and just go through the process. And I think that, you know, we have to hear to voice the people."
White, who represents Ward 8, pleaded not guilty in September, and prosecutors said he rejected a plea deal.
He's accused of agreeing to accept $156,000 in exchange for using his position to pressure employees of the D.C. Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) to extend several contracts, prosecutors said. White was the chair of a D.C. Council committee that oversees several agencies, including DYRS.
White received $35,000 in four cash payments in the alleged scheme, court documents say.
The Council is expected to release findings and recommendations from its independent investigation into the allegations against White in mid December. Those recommendations could include voting to remove White from office.
White's committee chairmanship was revoked in light of the investigation, but he remans a full voting member of the legislative body.
Following White’s arrest, the D.C. government launched a wide-ranging review of violence interruption work.
Here’s what federal prosecutors say Trayon White did
Federal prosecutors say White agreed starting in June to accept $156,000 in bribes in exchange for using his position to pressure government employees to extend violence intervention contracts worth $5.2 million.
He’s accused of accepting envelopes full of cash as he was caught on a hidden camera. Here’s how the FBI broke down the payments:
- June 26: $15,000 cash received
- July 17: $5,000 cash received
- July 25: $10,000 cash received
- Aug. 9: $5,000 cash received
Images included in court documents show what prosecutors say is White receiving envelopes stuffed with cash.
An FBI informant who operated businesses that contracted with the D.C. government agreed to cooperate with authorities as part of an agreement to plead guilty to bribery and bank fraud charges. Several conversations between White and the informant were recorded in a parked car wired for video and audio, including outside White’s home, prosecutors say.
At one meeting, White and the informant discussed contracts the informant had with ONSE. The informant asked White if the contracts would be renewed and said he had $15,000 cash.
Initially, White asked, “What you need me to do, man? I don’t, I don’t wanna feel like you gotta gimme something to get something. We better than that.”
Then he tucked the envelope with the cash into his jacket pocket, prosecutors say.
Read the full indictment against White here:
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