DC Council member Trayon White pleads not guilty to bribery charge – WTOP News

D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr., pleaded not guilty Thursday to a bribery charge during an arraignment in U.S. District Court.

White was indicted last week by a federal grand jury, accused of agreeing to accept $156,000 in cash payments from a business owner in exchange for help in renewing their companies’ violence-interruption contracts with the D.C. government.

Prosecutors say he was caught on video taking money from the business owner and agreeing to accept more payments.

White, who has represented Ward 8 on the D.C. Council since 2017, was the chairman of the Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs that oversaw some of the District’s violence-interruption efforts.

The two contracts between the unnamed business owner and the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services were valued at $5.2 million.

Overall, the business owner paid White a total of $35,000 in four meetings between June and August.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said he plans to remove White as chairman of the council’s Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs. White would be disqualified from holding public office if he’s convicted.

White has yet to announce if he plans to withdraw his name from the Ward 8 ballot, though there has been no public petition for him to step down.

Currently on the November ballot for the Council seat is White and Republican primary winner Nate Derenge, alongside write-in candidates Markus Batchelor, Michael Brown, Khadija Long and Olivia Henderson. WTOP news partner 7News reported that White attended the first Ward 8 political forum Wednesday evening.

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