A federal judge declared a mistrial Monday in the bribery trial of D.C. Council member Trayon White after the jury said it could not reach a verdict, a temporary legal victory for the embattled Ward 8 lawmaker accused of agreeing to help an associate secure lucrative city grants.
Prosecutors alleged that White accepted $35,000 in illegal payments and agreed to accept over $150,000 in kickbacks from a city contractor who, unbeknownst to White at the time, was cooperating with the FBI as a confidential informant.
Within about an hour of the mistrial being declared, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro issued a public statement saying her office would pursue another trial. The prosecution and defense will meet next month to discuss next steps.
“We have video showing piles of cash being given to a D.C. councilmember as part of a $156,000 bribe. Rest assured that we will retry this case and every corruption case to verdict,” Pirro said.
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But White, surrounded by a group of reporters outside D.C.’s federal courthouse, stood firm on his innocence and said the prosecution did not have a strong case.
“I feel like I’m redeemed again,” he said, in a speech stuffed with references to God’s glory. “There was never a quid pro quo.”
The judge’s ruling comes after a nine-day trial in federal court and three days of jury deliberations. The mistrial means that White, who would have been ineligible for public office in D.C. if convicted, can remain on the council — at least for now. His colleagues will have to decide whether to vote to expel him for ethics violations. The council ejected him over such violations in 2025, but White subsequently won a crowded special election to fill the seat he was forced to vacate.
To convict White, the jury would have to have found that he not only accepted the money, but also intended to be influenced by the man who paid him. Prosecutors argued they cleared that bar, while the defense argued the evidence did not show that White intended to carry out a bribery scheme.
Eighty-seven minutes of video, showing White meeting with former D.C. contractor Allieu Kamara, formed the backbone of the government’s case against the lawmaker. Kamara allowed the FBI to surreptitiously record his conversations with White.
Prosecutors used the video, along with testimony from Kamara and several D.C. government officials, to argue that White agreed to — and intended to carry out — a bribery scheme in which he would use his position as council member to advance Kamara’s financial interests. They pointed to his outreach to D.C. government officials, in particular the director of the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, as evidence that he had plans to pressure them to extend Kamara’s grants.
White’s defense acknowledged he accepted the payments, but argued that they weren’t bribes. His attorney told jurors they could have been campaign donations, and said there was no evidence that White actually intended to be influenced by Kamara when he took the cash. They noted that no D.C. government official who testified during the trial said White had pressured them to take action on the grants; the director of ONSE, for example, said White brought up one of Kamara’s companies briefly with her, but never pressed the issue.
By the end of closing arguments last week, the jury had been presented with two vastly different readings of White’s behavior. That disagreement was perhaps no better exemplified by the dueling interpretations of White’s response to the first envelope of cash Kamara handed him in the FBI’s videos.
Prosecutors emphasized the first thing White said as he pocketed the cash: “What you need me to do?” They argued it was evidence that White understood the payment was a bribe.
The defense, on the other hand, used the same clip to argue White was hesitant about Kamara’s proposal. It played to the jury what White said immediately afterward: “I don’t want you to feel like you need to give me something to get something. We better than that.”
On Friday morning, after about two days of deliberating, jurors sent a note to the court saying they could not come to a unanimous decision. Federal judge Rudolph Contreras, who is presiding over the case, told them to keep trying. But by the end of the day Friday, the situation remained largely unchanged.
“We’ve had productive discussions, but have not reached a consensus, and our afternoon vote did not shift from the first vote of the day,” the jury wrote in a note shortly after 4 p.m. Friday.
On Monday morning, jurors sent another note, saying that further discussion had only cemented their divergent perspectives.
Contreras then decided to dismiss them. “I commend you for the extra effort you put and the seriousness with which you undertook this public service,” he said, before telling them they were free to go.
It was not immediately clear how many jurors wanted to acquit and how many wanted to convict. Outside the courthouse, several jurors declined to speak with a reporter about the deliberations.
White’s lawyer asked Contreras if his client could have his passport back. The prosecution did not object.
White gathered with his supporters outside the courthouse to give remarks and answer questions from the press.
“This has been one of the hardest two years of my life, fighting the system,” he said, acknowledging that he could be retried and the case may not be over.
White said he was not gloating — and instead looking at the mistrial as an “opportunity to serve,” a chance to return to the D.C. Council and continue his work. He said he would focus on combatting small business closures in his ward, for one, and added that his experience with the justice system had him considering a return to law school. A reporter asked him, if the $35,000 he accepted was not a bribe, what was the money for?
“Let’s stick to the topic, man,” White replied. “We want to accept the jury’s decision today, regroup and get back to work, because there’s a lot of work to do in this city to ensure equity and inclusion in a $20 billion budget.”
D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, reached by phone Monday afternoon, told The Washington Sun that he expected his fellow lawmakers would want to wait for the outcome of the potential retrial before deciding whether to expel White again. Mendelson also said there was disagreement as to whether another expulsion vote would be appropriate.
“I think there’s some hesitancy on the part of some members … having voted to expel once and essentially having that overturned by the voters,” he said.
Asked whether he believed White had violated the council’s code of conduct, which prohibits lawmakers from accepting gifts from D.C. government contractors, Mendelson said: “I do not think an elected official should be taking $35,000 in cash in an envelope while discussing influencing contracts.”
After White’s speech outside court, his supporters gathered around him and prayed. The council member bowed his head and mouthed a silent prayer to himself. As he crossed the street to his silver Tesla, he put a fist up to the sky and pointed to the heavens.
Then he got in his car and drove away, throwing his fans a peace sign out of his open car window.
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