DC councilman stuffed pockets with envelopes of cash in alleged bribery scheme, feds allege

The U.S. Department of Justice has released the reason Washington, D.C., city councilmember Trayon White Sr. was arrested on Sunday afternoon.

White faces a bribery charge, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News. The 40-year-old who represents Ward 8 is chair of the Council’s Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs, which oversees several agencies including the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), according to a DOJ press release.

"The complaint alleges that, beginning in June 2024, White corruptly agreed to accept $156,000 in cash payments in exchange for using his position as a D.C. councilmember to pressure government employees at Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and DYRS to extend several D.C. contracts," the release states.

The contracts, valued at $5.2 million, were for two companies to provide violence intervention services in D.C.

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"White’s agreement with a confidential human source (the owner of the companies) – including the source’s payments to White of $35,000 in cash on four separate occasions (June 26, July 17, July 25, and August 9, 2024) and the source showing White a document reflecting how White’s three-percent cut was calculated based on those contracts – was captured on video," the DOJ stated, citing the complaint. 

Court docs alleged White was "corruptly" given gifts that included travel to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas, Nevada.

White made national headlines in March 2018 when he suggested that Jewish financiers control the weather. The claim came as he filmed himself driving through downtown Washington in the snow and ranted about "climate manipulation."

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"And D.C. keep talking about, ‘We’re a resilient city.’ And that’s a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man," he said in the now-deleted video. "Be careful."

The Rothschilds, a European Jewish banking family descended from Mayer Amschel Rothschild, have been the subject of antisemitic conspiracy theories for centuries, including that they control the world’s financial institutions and manipulate world events to their benefit.

White initially defended his comments, saying, "The video says what it says," but he later apologized to the Jewish community.

White would later come under fire in 2018 after it was reported that he donated $500 to a Nation of Islam convention in Chicago where Louis Farrakhan attacked "powerful Jews" as his enemy and made other disparaging comments. 

"I am not resigning, I’m not backing down, I’m not discouraged, I’m not depressed, so run all the media stories you want because my people are going to support me," White said at the time when faced with backlash.

White was released on bond on his own recognizance, FOX 5 DC reports. He faces up to 15 years behind bars, up to a $250,000 fine or three times the amount of the alleged bribe, the local TV station said. 

FOX News' Greg Wehner, Sara Lechner and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.