D.C. Council member Trayon White denies wrongdoing ahead of expulsion vote

Washington Post

28-01-2025

An attorney for D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) offered the lawmaker's first extended public response to the council's looming expulsion of him Tuesday, arguing during a council proceeding that the legislative body's disciplinary process violated his client's rights. The council, however, appears poised to expel White through a final vote next week.
The hearing gave White the opportunity to formally defend himself before the council against allegations that he violated ethics rules by accepting bribes in exchange for promising to influence contracts at D.C. government agencies. White, who had been indicted on a federal bribery charge, chose not to speak and sat next to his attorney, Frederick D. Cooke Jr., who criticized the process and said White denied all allegations of ethics violations.
Cooke argued that the council's disciplinary process was improper in part because it did not allow White to appeal the council's decision in a court of law, and noted that White had not yet been convicted of anything. White has pleaded not guilty to the federal charge, and his trial is slated to begin in January 2026. Cooke also said it would have been better for the council to rely on an investigation by D.C.'s Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, which allows the employees it investigates to appeal decisions in D.C. Superior Court. Cook said BEGA has launched an investigation into White; a spokesperson for BEGA did not return a call for comment.
'This process is defective,' Cooke said. 'I believe the council needs to go back and get it right.'
He also argued that the council violated its own rules by proposing the resolution to expel in 2024, but not reintroducing it this year.
Only two council members were permitted to make statements — Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-At Large), who chaired the ad hoc council committee that assessed White's conduct, and Chairman Phil Mendelson (D). Both were unmoved by Cooke's arguments.
'Council member White betrayed the trust of his staff, the council, the agencies and above all the residents of Ward 8,' McDuffie said.
'The public [has to] have trust in the government, they have to have trust in the legislature, they have to have trust in those who are elected,' Mendelson said.
The meeting brought the council one step closer to expelling White, an extraordinary move that would mark the first time in the history of D.C. home rule that the body has formally voted to eject one of its own. The last time D.C. lawmakers came close to expelling a member was in 2019, when a council ad hoc committee voted to recommend expelling former Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) for repeated ethics violations. Evans resigned before the matter came to a final vote.
White was indicted in September on a federal bribery charge, accused of accepting roughly $35,000 in cash and making arrangements to receive tens of thousands more in kickbacks from an associate. White allegedly accepted the money in exchange for agreeing to pressure government employees into extending the associate's contracts to work on violence intervention and the care of at-risk young people. The associate was working as an FBI informant.
After his August arrest, the council established an ad hoc committee comprising all members except White and commissioned the law firm Latham & Watkins to investigate the allegations. The firm found 'substantial evidence' that White violated ethics rules, and the committee subsequently voted in December to recommend White be expelled. At the time, Mendelson called the findings 'quintessential corruption,' and members said they felt they had no choice given the evidence.
White, who was reelected in November to a third term, has largely stayed away from making public comments about the federal charge or the council's action, other than to maintain his innocence. He apologized to the city at his swearing-in ceremony earlier this month, but declined to say what he was apologizing for. While White was allowed to make a statement or call witnesses at Tuesday's hearing, he declined to do either, instead relying on his attorney to speak. Cooke said Tuesday that it would be inappropriate to construe White's silence as an admission of guilt, saying it was within his rights.
At the hearing, White wore a shirt that read 'THE FBI KILLED FRED HAMPTON,' a reference to the 1969 killing of the Illinois Black Panther Party leader during a police raid.
'This is the same Justice Department that killed Fred Hampton that's trying to come after me,' he said in response to a reporter's question about his shirt. 'Same people.'
He declined to answer reporters' other questions after the proceeding and went into his office, flanked by a group of supporters. Meanwhile, a black truck was parked outside the Wilson Building, displaying a large photo of White with the words 'FBI SET ME UP' in large green letters below it. White did not respond to a text message asking who had arranged the truck or if they were responsible for it.
Some Ward 8 residents who attended the proceeding felt strongly that the council was ignoring the will of voters.
'Nothing's going to seize my vote, and nothing's going to seize my voice,' Regina Pixley, a longtime ally of White, said after the meeting.
Mendelson, however, remains steadfast in his belief that the council is doing the right thing.
'We have to maintain an ethical legislature,' he said in an interview after the hearing. 'The public will not abide by our waiting at least another year for a conviction.'
The council is expected to take the expulsion vote at its Feb. 4 meeting, where it would take a vote of 11 members to remove White.
Council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) said he still hoped they would not have to take that final step.
'I wish he would resign,' he said. 'If you broke the council rules and you know you broke the council rules, to put the council through this is something to think about.'
If the council ejects Trayon White, Ward 8 could face an empty council seat and a special election to fill it. White declined to answer reporters' questions about whether he had plans to run in that election.
Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large), called the looming expulsion vote 'weighty,' but said her mind was already further in the future.
'I think some of us are looking to the next chapter, whatever that is — what happens after Feb. 4,' she said.