At trial, a tale of two Trayon Whites emerges

As Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White’s federal bribery trial began Tuesday, prosecutors showed five lengthy undercover surveillance videos in full to the jury — and the public — for the first time.

They simultaneously captured why he’s one of the most successful (and beloved) politicians in Southeast D.C.’s history — and why federal prosecutors believe he schemed to use his office to rake in tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.

The footage shows the councilmember discussing his efforts to help men locked up in the D.C. Jail and his plans to hand out shoes to kids at the start of a new school year. In other moments, White is seen slipping thousands of dollars into his pockets, as he seemingly discusses his efforts to manipulate city officials and bring in “a stream of income” to afford pricy real estate deals and vacations with his romantic interests.

The divide is similarly evident in how prosecutors and White’s attorneys are arguing their respective cases — and the verdict may well hinge on which version of White the jury finds more compelling.

In opening arguments, White’s lawyer sketched out a picture of the councilmember as a pillar of the Southeast community, someone who has “devoted himself to helping troubled youth” and who deals with “the misery and poverty of Ward 8” on a daily basis. The man who captured those videos, D.C. businessman-turned-informant Allieu Kamara, is merely a “snitch” out to avoid a prison sentence of his own and help the FBI entrap White, he argued.

John Crabb, the assistant United States attorney leading the prosecution, focused on the other side of White depicted in the footage, the one concerned with “campaign finance fines,” a $100,000 real estate deal in North Carolina, and the fact that “it’s really expensive to see girls and have fun,” arguing that led the councilmember to agree to accept $156,000 in bribe money. 

Crabb also revealed the FBI has been investigating White since 2023, a year before it worked with Kamara to arrange his undercover surveillance, though he did not say why.

A crowd of roughly 20 of White’s well-wishers gathered in the courtroom was certainly ready to believe the former interpretation rather than the latter. Some of White’s oldest friends — including longtime D.C. activists Jauhar Abraham and Regina Pixley — sat in on the proceedings and offered murmurs of support whenever the tapes showed White discussing his good works in the community. (Abraham, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump despite the criticism it’s earned him in D.C. circles, was particularly fond of arguing during breaks that White is suffering from the same sort of political persecution from prosecutors as the president.)

In one recording, White discusses his efforts to find new housing for Ward 8 residents displaced by an apartment fire. The city’s plans to help were unacceptable, White said, demonstrating that, in his view, Mayor Muriel Bowser “don’t care about Black people, about poor people.”

In another video, White tells Kamara about how painful it had been to attend a funeral for a young boy killed in a shooting, as he’d also attended the funeral of the boy’s father after a different shooting several years earlier. He was candid that such events have taken a toll on him, mentioning several times (as he did during his unsuccessful mayoral run) that he’s started going to therapy to deal with the stress. It’s the sort of thing that has endeared White to many Ward 8 residents and become part of his political brand. 

Other portions of the tapes paint a less sympathetic portrait of the councilmember. In one video, he laments “financially, I’m bankrupt,” as “seeing all these girls and having all this fun and shit, it’s expensive,” citing a recent trip to Las Vegas. He also discussed his efforts to line up a pricy land deal outside Greensboro, North Carolina, and his desire to “build out a company to do federal government contracting.” At one point, he seems to allude to paying a contracting officer “to meet with her” and learn how to win these deals.

“That’s a cash cow,” White tells Kamara. He described other D.C. government contracts, such as those around mental health services and housing, that he believed the businessman could win in the same way. 

At another point, White mentions a recent federal investigation of healthcare fraud in the city has “everyone on edge,” and he repeatedly says he wants to avoid talking on the phone or via text.

Gary Kohlman, White’s attorney, told the jury that the councilmember may have accepted money from Kamara, but he never used his office to steer contracts to the businessman. Prosecutors can’t produce “a single witness saying Trayon White put pressure on me or intimidated me,” Kohlman said. Still, in the videos, White repeatedly referred to efforts to lobby city officials on behalf of Kamara’s main company, Life Deeds, which provided violence interruption services to D.C.

For instance, when Bowser held a meeting with White discussing the prospect of moving violence interruption services in-house, obviating the need for contractors like Life Deeds, White said he told the mayor “that’s stupid.” He told Kamara that he recommended the city spend more money with contractors to improve these programs instead. And prosecutors also showed a video of Kamara promising to pay White a 3 percent cut of each contract he earns with the city.

Though White’s lawyers argued the councilmember never solicited money from Kamara, raising the possibility he may have just been repaying White for past debts, the pair repeatedly discuss growing these businesses and plans for the future in highly unusual ways for local lawmakers.

“I want us to get ready for 2026, for 2027,” White told Kamara in one video, arguing they’d need to build new relationships inside the government if Bowser left office at the end of her term. (When Kamara followed up to ask if White planned to run for mayor again himself, he said he was considering it.)

And this was all just from day one; there are certainly more twists and turns to come as the trial unfolds. Notably, Kohlman plans to put former Attorney General Karl Racine, one of White’s political mentors, on the witness stand. Kamara claims he paid White $20,000 back in 2019 to approach Racine about a case he was pursuing against Life Deeds; Kohlman said Racine will testify that White never spoke to him about the matter.

Judge Rudolph Contreras told jurors to expect to spend up to two weeks hearing arguments. Then it will be up to them to decide which side has made the more persuasive case.