On the first day of testimony in the bribery trial of D.C. Councilmember Trayon White, a packed courtroom saw video of the defendant allegedly taking bribes.
White is accused of accepting cash from an associate in exchange for using his elected position to help extend city contracts for the associate’s businesses. He pleaded not guilty.
Video showed five meetings involving the councilmember, including several in which White took cash and spoke about government contracts with FBI informant Allieu Kamara.
The defense tried to poke holes in prosecution claims that there were bribes, saying there’s no proof Kamara didn’t owe White money from past dealings between the two men.
In a stunning development Tuesday, it was revealed Kamara is White’s brother-in-law. The lead investigator in the case admitted on the stand that at the time of White’s arrest in 2024, the FBI did not know Kamara was married to his sister.
The bribery trial against D.C. Councilmember Trayon White is now within sight, with jury selection set to begin Friday and the trial set to begin as early as next week. News4’s Mark Segraves, who has followed the case since the beginning, shares the embattled councilmember’s story so far.
Under questioning from the defense, the agent testified Kamara was arrested for COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud and became a government informant.
According to testimony, Kamara said he first bribed White in 2019, but the FBI acknowledged it had no actual evidence of that bribe taking place.
The agent testified Kamara told the FBI White was not the only D.C. official taking bribes. According to the agent’s testimony, Kamara said several other high-ranking D.C. officials, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, accepted bribes as well.
But the testimony did not include any specifics about the allegations, and Bowser is not charged with any crime.
The mayor’s office did not have any comment about the allegations.
The investigator’s testimony also revealed the White investigation began in 2023, a year before his arrest.
The first witness in the trial, D.C. Council general counsel Nicole Streeter, briefly testified to establish what the Council’s ethics rules are.
The FBI’s lead investigator will continue testifying Wednesday. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah also is expected to testify.
White was arrested in 2024 on a charge that he accepted over $150,000 in bribes in exchange for pressuring D.C. employees to extend city contracts for violence intervention services. Authorities say they secretly recorded conversations between White and an FBI informant who gave White $35,000 in cash on four occasions.
Other D.C. Council members voted unanimously to oust White from the council after his arrest. But he won a special election last year to retake the Ward 8 council seat vacated by his expulsion.
