The facts
D.C. Councilmember Trayon White Sr. walked out of federal court a winner on Monday without winning a thing. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras declared a mistrial in White's bribery case after the jury deadlocked over more than three days of deliberation on the single charge against the Ward 8 representative.
The trial hinged on five videos secretly recorded by FBI informant Allieu Kamara in the summer of 2024. The videos capture White pocketing $35,000 in cash and discussing a 3% cut if the city renewed Kamara's $5.2 million in contracts, amounting to $156,000. White did not deny taking the money. The 12 jurors had to weigh whether, in accepting the cash, White had agreed to use his office corruptly, and in the end they couldn't unanimously decide.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Monday that she intends to bring the case back to court. "We have video showing piles of cash being given to a D.C. councilmember as part of a $156,000 bribe," she said. "Rest assured that we will retry this case and every corruption case to verdict." Both parties will reconvene on Oct. 22.
White treated the hung jury as a triumph. "This has been one of the hardest two years of my life, fighting the system, but through it all I’m grateful, I’m humble and I feel like I’m redeemed again," he said at a news conference outside U.S. District Court. His supporters encircled him in a tearful prayer circle, chanted "Tray Day" as he approached his silver Tesla, and he pumped his fist in the air victoriously before driving off. During the news conference, White evoked Marion Barry, another Ward 8 politician whom voters returned to office after his arrest in an FBI sting operation.
White has won re-election twice since his arrest, including once after he was unanimously ousted from the council by his peers. He won the second election since his arrest less handily, receiving 2,392 votes, or just 27.7%.
Our take
Trayon White is the kind of dickhead who gets filmed stuffing 35 grand into his pockets while discussing a three percent cut on 5.2 million in contracts and still walks out of court calling it redemption. The twelve jurors watched the five secret videos for more than three days and could not agree that cash in hand plus bribe talk equals corruption. That deadlock is not a win. It is twelve people failing to label what the tapes already showed.
White stood outside the courthouse in a tearful prayer circle with supporters chanting Tray Day as he climbed into his silver Tesla and pumped his fist like he had beaten the system. He called the last two years the hardest of his life and declared himself humble and redeemed again. A hung jury is not redemption. It is the exact opposite of proof that he never intended to use his office corruptly.
He compared himself to Marion Barry as if that lineage makes the mistrial a badge of honor instead of the same old Ward 8 playbook of getting caught then daring voters to forget. White has already been re-elected twice since the arrest, once after his own council peers unanimously tossed him out, the second time scraping just 27.7 percent of the vote. That is not broad support. That is a narrow slice of people willing to ignore the videos.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said she has piles of cash on tape and will retry the case to verdict on October 22. The recordings do not disappear. White treating a mistrial as victory is the same pathetic grift as pretending the money was just a misunderstanding. The next jury will see the same five videos and the same man who never denied taking the cash. Court Day is coming and Tray Day is already dead.
