A committee of the D.C. Council voted Monday to recommend expelling member Trayon White after an investigation found “substantial evidence” White accepted bribes and violated the Council’s code of conduct.
On Monday morning, Chairman Phil Mendelson made a motion to expel White during an Ad Hoc Committee meeting.
“Let’s cut through the legal jargon. Trayon White is accused of taking bribes,” Mendelson said in a statement. “The prosecutors have established probable cause, our own independent investigation found substantial evidence that he took bribes, and public servants are prohibited from taking bribes. This is quintessential corruption.”
White is accused of agreeing to accept $156,000 in exchange for using his position to pressure employees of the D.C. Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) to extend several contracts, prosecutors said. White was the chair of a D.C. Council committee that oversees several agencies, including DYRS.
White received $35,000 in four cash payments in the alleged scheme, court documents say.
White made a brief statement to reporters after the committee’s vote to recommend expulsion, reiterating that residents voted for him in November amid the accusations against him.
“Just last month, over 20,000 people in Ward 8 decided that they wanted me to be their Council member. So, we’re sticking to that,” he said. “We want the Council to do what’s in their rights to do. We accept that. We want to continue to stay unified as a community, as a city. But I know the Council has a job to do.”
The full Council is expected to take a vote in late January on whether to expel White.
Council member Kenyan McDuffie released the results of an independent investigation into the bribery allegations and concerns about White’s residency on Wednesday. The law firm Latham & Watkins LLP wrote the 48-page report.
“The report concludes that there is substantial evidence that Councilmember Trayon White engaged in conduct that violated several provisions of the D.C. Code of Conduct, including multiple rules within the D.C. Council’s Code of Official Conduct, with respect to the bribery allegations,” McDuffie’s statement said.
The report outlined evidence that suggests White violated several rules, including measures that bar Council members from accepting gifts from prohibited sources and using their position unethically.
However, investigators didn’t find substantial evidence that White violated residency requirements. White was linked to homes in wards 8 and 6.
The D.C. Council stripped White of his committee leadership following his arrest in August on federal bribery charges.
Last month, White told reporters he’s entitled to due process and pointed out his reelection.
“As a citizen, I would expect the Council to give me the same and the people of Ward 8, the same justice that we allow the federal government to give us. And that’s just the vote of the people. Twenty-thousand people voted for me to be the Council member last week … in Ward 8,” Ward said. “And so we plan to fight the government in court and just go through the process. And I think that, you know, we have to hear to voice the people.”
The D.C. Council investigation into White was estimated to cost taxpayers $400,000.