D.C. Council member Trayon White charged with bribery: What to know
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Council member Trayon White (center) exits the courthouse yesterday. Photo: Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Ward 8 Council member Trayon White allegedly accepted $156,000 in cash in exchange for helping a businessperson seeking contracts with the city, according to federal prosecutors.
Why it matters: It is the biggest scandal in D.C. politics in over a decade.
The big picture: White, who represents some of the city's poorest neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, is charged with bribery as he seeks re-election for a third term.
Driving the news: White was arrested Sunday outside a Navy Yard apartment building. He appeared in court on Monday and was released pending trial.
- White's lawyer didn't return Axios' request for comment.
State of play: The FBI alleges White pressured D.C. government employees to extend contracts for violence interruption services in neighborhoods with elevated crime.
- The council member met with a local businessperson four times in recent months to accept envelopes of cash, per the FBI arrest affidavit. The unnamed individual owns a D.C. company described in court documents as a "community-based initiative to serve high-risk youths and adults."
- The meetings, held inside a car, were surreptitiously recorded, says the affidavit.
Sitting in the car on June 26, White allegedly placed an envelope with $15,000 in cash into his jacket pocket — the first of four recent bribes caught on camera, per the FBI.
- The two discussed further opportunities and wondered "how we get into the mental health space" for government contracts, according to a transcript of the meeting from the affidavit.
More cash allegedly followed. On Aug. 8, the individual allegedly texted White for an update on contract renewals, asking if White needed him to "bring anything."
- White replied, "Nothing is needed unless you're feeling generous lol," according to the affidavit.
- The next morning inside a parked car, the contractor allegedly handed White a $5,000 bribe.
What they're saying: Council chair Phil Mendelson said the charge is "a gut punch to the public trust in the council."
- An ad hoc council committee will be established to review the case, he said, and the council will move to strip White of his role as chair of the Committee on Recreation, Libraries, and Youth Affairs.
- The last council member to be arrested was Michael A. Brown, who pleaded guilty in 2013 to taking cash in an FBI sting.
Flashback: Prosecutors say White first accepted a $20,000 bribe from the contractor in 2020.
- At the time, White offered to help the contractor with an approvals dispute with the city, according to the affidavit.
- Even though White "was not able to resolve the contract dispute" at the time, according to the FBI, the two continued meeting this year.
Between the lines: The contractor began cooperating with law enforcement after pleading guilty to fraudulently obtaining pandemic-era business loans from the federal government — on top of corruption offenses that include offering bribes to White, according to the affidavit.