DC Coun­cil expels Tray­on White after bribery charges

DC Council expels Trayon White after bribery charges

White has plead­ed not guilty to the bribery charges and has main­tained his inno­cence. Video evi­dence appeared to show him accept­ing $156,000 in bribes to use his posi­tion on a coun­cil com­mit­tee to influ­ence gov­ern­ment con­tracts. He was reelect­ed in 2024, hav­ing won the Demo­c­ra­t­ic pri­ma­ry pri­or to the indict­ment.

White became the first per­son expelled from the coun­cil in its his­to­ry, which spans more than 50 years, despite oth­er mem­bers being embroiled in ethics con­tro­ver­sies through­out its exis­tence.

White resist­ed step­ping down from his seat, even after an ad hoc com­mit­tee unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed expul­sion in Decem­ber 2024. He took his seat in Jan­u­ary despite the loom­ing threat of expul­sion, offer­ing a vague apol­o­gy at the time.

“This morn­ing, I want to say that I apol­o­gize to my city, and I love my city to the core of who I am,” White said. “I’m not a per­fect man, but if you get to know me, you know that I’m a good man.”

Fol­low­ing the vote rec­om­mend­ing White’s expul­sion, D.C. Coun­cil Chair­man Phil Mendel­son called White’s actions “quin­tes­sen­tial cor­rup­tion” and called for him to be removed from office.

“There is only one rem­e­dy: to remove the cor­rup­tion from our body,” Mendel­son said at the time. “This inci­dent has dam­aged the pub­lic trust nec­es­sary for gov­ern­ment to func­tion well. Any­thing less than expul­sion will not rec­ti­fy the sit­u­a­tion.”

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A spe­cial elec­tion to fill the seat for Ward 8 vacat­ed by White will be held in the com­ing months.

Despite being expelled on Tues­day, White would still be able to run for his seat again if he choos­es to. The tri­al for his fed­er­al bribery charge is sched­uled for Jan­u­ary 2026.