Trayon White expelled from the DC Council for corruption but he's free to run for his old seat

WASHINGTON — The D.C. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to expel Councilmember Trayon White, who faces a federal trial on charges of taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to influence city contract decisions.

White, 40, was arrested by the FBI last August. His federal trial won't start until January 2026, but preliminary evidence shows White pocketing cash-stuffed envelopes from a city contractor-turned-informer.

Tuesday's hearing on the matter was relatively quick. An internal council inquiry had already recommended expulsion. Votes from 11 of the 12 remaining council members were required for expulsion, but the vote was unanimous.

''Bribery of elected officials is quintessential corruption,'' Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said before the vote. ''Trust is precious. Trust is critical for an elected government, and we must act.''

It's first time in modern D.C. history that the council has expelled a member. Most recently, in 2019, former Councilmember Jack Evans — facing multiple charges of ethics violations — resigned ahead of an expulsion vote.

White came up in local politics as a protege of iconic and infamous former Mayor Marion Barry. And White has been channeling his mentor's defiant, populist playbook since his arrest.

He refused to cooperate with the internal council inquiry. His lawyer, Frederick D. Cooke Jr., also served as Barry's defense attorney. And White has sought to stoke lingering suspicion of the FBI among Black Washingtonians, many of whom believe Barry was unfairly targeted by the 1990 FBI sting that caught him on camera smoking crack cocaine.

During Tuesday's council hearing, White sat silently in the audience surrounded by supporters. Meanwhile, a panel truck sat parked outside the D.C. government building with an electronic display showing a picture of White and the message ''FBI set me up.'' Another image in the shifting display showed a picture of Mendelson underneath the word ''Racist.''

Last week, White showed up at a council hearing on his case wearing a T-shirt that declared ''THE FBI KILLED FRED HAMPTON'' — a reference to the Illinois Black Panther Party leader who was killed during a police raid in 1969.

Even before his legal troubles, White was closely associated with the Barry legacy, frequently appearing at his side later in his life. White represents Ward 8 — D.C.'s poorest and Blackest district — in the seat Barry held for years. In 2018, when a statue of Barry was erected outside the D.C. government building, White went on local radio to defend Barry's legacy against critics.

As a councilmember, White channeled Barry's street-level style — building loyalty by personally appearing throughout his ward, especially at crime scenes, at all hours of the day.

''He was trained by Barry, and Barry would do that. He would show up for everything from a birthday or a barbecue to a shooting scene,'' said Robinson Woodward-Burns, a political science professor at Washington's Howard University.

And in true Barry style, the arrest and strength of evidence did little to dent his popularity; less than three months later he was reelected to a third term in November with limited opposition.

Arrest and public scandal may not be the end of White's political career, much like that of his mentor. White is free to enter the special election that will be called to fill his seat as long as he hasn't been convicted of a felony. His trial starts next year.

George Musgrove, author of '' Chocolate City, A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital,'' said he believes White is making a ''false comparison'' in wrapping himself in the Barry legacy.

Barry boasted a legitimate pre-politics resume as a pioneering civil rights activist, Musgrove said, serving as the first chairman of the seminal Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee before coming to Washington in 1965 to run the local SNCC office. And as mayor, Barry is regarded as having enriched and elevated other Black residents, and partially credited with helping create the robust Black middle class that populates the D.C. area.

''Trayon wants to play that role, but he's never built up that history,'' said Musgrove, a history professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. ''So that goodwill is only going to stretch so far.''

Nevertheless, Musgrove said he thinks White would have a decent chance of regaining his seat in a special election. In a ward where voter turnout in a nonpresidential election year usually hovers in the teens, he said it would take a strong candidate with broad coalition support to challenge White's organized loyalists.

''What he learned from Barry is how to cultivate a relatively small but pretty fervent electoral base in a low-turnout ward,'' Musgrove said. ''He only has to mobilize a couple thousand people.''