Ward 8 D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. will rejoin the full D.C. Council for the first time since being indicted by a federal grand jury when the council reconvenes on Tuesday.
White has been accused of accepting $156,000 in cash payments from a business owner in exchange for his help renewing their companies’ violence-interruption contracts with the D.C. government. White pleaded not guilty to a bribery charge in the U.S. District Court last week.
In a news conference on Monday, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said White’s charges are “serious and damning.” Mendelson said he has not spoken to White since his arrest nearly a month ago but has reached out to him.
“The reality is we know that a person is presumed innocent until proven beyond a reasonable doubt or there is some sort of plea bargain,” Mendelson said. “So that is how we have to view our colleague, but we are moving forward with the disciplinary process that the rules provide.”
Part of the disciplinary process includes voting to remove White as chairman of the Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs.
However, Mendelson pointed out White will still have voting power.
“Our rules are clear: If we want to expel a member, we have to go through a process which includes the ad hoc committee,” he said.
At-large Council member and Chair Pro Tempore Kenyan McDuffie of the ad hoc committee has worked with the D.C. Council’s general counsel to bring on the Latham & Watkins law firm to assist the committee investigation on White’s bribery charges and whether or not he lives in Ward 8.
The committee will have 90 days to file the report, which will be due on Dec. 16.
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