Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White plans to fight his federal bribery charges in court—for now, at least.
The councilmember pleaded not guilty Thursday via his attorney, Fred Cooke Jr., a key first step in letting the case against him move ahead. Federal prosecutors also told U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras that they had offered White a plea deal, but he rejected it last week. Attorneys did not disclose the terms of the offer. This means that White will almost certainly stay on the November ballot, though he has until the end of the day Thursday to withdraw from his race for a third term in office.
White, who’s accused of agreeing to accept $156,000 in exchange for helping contractors win business with the D.C. government, has remained almost completely silent about what he thinks of these allegations since they came to light last month. He ignored questions from reporters as a crowd of about two dozen supporters ushered him into a car at the conclusion of the brief arraignment hearing at E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House.
Since the indictment, White has done most of his speaking, as ever, through his active Instagram account. He posted a picture of himself with his political mentor, Mayor-for-Life Marion Barry, shortly before the hearing. Less than half an hour later, he was busy re-posting photos from his fans who stood with him in court, many of whom also showed up to a Saturday prayer service for White at Union Temple Baptist Church in Anacostia.
Cooke, a veteran of many high-profile D.C. cases, also declined to comment to the media assembled at the federal courthouse. He’s since added Brian McDaniel, a veteran attorney at the D.C. branch of the Cochran Firm, and Lynette Brown, who runs her own small firm, to White’s defense team.
So far, it seems their strategy is to try and drag things out a bit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Ross spent much of the hearing pressing for Contreras to set a trial date for April. But Cooke said that prosecutors have already handed over two batches of “voluminous” evidence for him to review, with more yet to come, and the defense needed more time.
Cooke asked for another 60 days to prepare and Contreras said that sounded “reasonable.” The judge set another hearing for Nov. 13 to discuss additional logistics.
Some political insiders have speculated that White could ultimately agree to a plea deal of some kind, perhaps resigning to avoid some of the 15 years in prison he’s facing, and he could certainly still do so. But his decision to press ahead with his legal case, and maybe his reelection bid, too, signals that he’ll continue subtly messaging to the community about his innocence for the foreseeable future.
He is expected to cruise to a victory in November despite his legal troubles, though he’s now facing a more crowded field of competitors. Republican Nate Derenge is the only other candidate who will appear on the ballot, but former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Olivia Henderson, activist Khadijah Long, and June Sherman have registered with elections officials to run as write-in candidates. Electrician Michael Brown (no, not the shadow senator or the ex-councilmember) has done so, too, but there have been issues with his paperwork.
Ex-State Board of Education Rep. Markus Batchelor has announced his intention to run as a write-in as well, but some confusion over outstanding campaign finance fines has delayed his ability to organize a formal campaign.