A federal jury deadlocked Monday in the bribery trial of D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr., prompting U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras to declare a mistrial. Jurors told the court that further deliberation had only hardened their disagreement after more than three days of discussion.
White was accused of accepting $35,000 in cash from D.C. contractor Allieu Kamara during four meetings in 2024. Kamara, who was cooperating with the FBI, secretly recorded the exchanges. Prosecutors said White agreed to use his position to help Kamara’s companies win renewals of multimillion-dollar violence-interruption contracts, with White ultimately expected to receive $156,000 — three percent of the contracts’ value.
Prosecutors played about 87 minutes of the recorded footage for jurors. In one clip, White is heard accepting an envelope containing $15,000 while telling Kamara, “I don’t want to feel like you got to give me something to get something done, man.”
White’s attorneys did not dispute that he took the $35,000. Instead, they argued the money alone did not meet the legal standard for bribery because White never actually intended to pressure city officials to renew Kamara’s contracts. “Trayon White actually did nothing,” defense attorney Gary Kohlman told jurors in closing arguments.
Three D.C. officials who testified said White never pressured them about renewing Kamara’s contracts. That point became central when jurors asked Judge Contreras whether accepting money for an official act counts as bribery if the person never intended to follow through. The judge told them it does not.
Kamara’s own credibility was also a focus of the defense. He had pleaded guilty to bribery and bank-fraud conspiracy before agreeing to cooperate with the FBI, giving White’s lawyers grounds to question his motives as the government’s key witness.
Prosecutors vow a retrial
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said her office intends to bring the case back to trial. “We have video showing piles of cash being given to a D.C. councilmember as part of a $156,000 bribe,” Pirro said after the mistrial. “Rest assured that we will retry this case and every corruption case to verdict.”
White, for his part, declared the outcome a win while maintaining his innocence. “Victory is mine, saith the Lord,” he said. His lead attorney told reporters the jury had split 9-3 in favor of acquittal, though that figure comes from the defense and has not been independently confirmed.
A council seat in limbo
The case has already reshaped White’s political standing. The D.C. Council voted 12-0 to expel him in February 2025 after federal charges were filed, but Ward 8 voters returned him to the same seat in a special election months later. He has been barred from committee and leadership roles while the case proceeds.
A mistrial is not an acquittal — the underlying federal indictment remains in place, and Pirro has said the government plans to pursue another trial. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has indicated he does not expect the council to take further action against White while prosecutors prepare to retry the case.
