Ward 8 Council member Trayon White will face a federal jury on a bribery charge starting Sept. 14, with prosecutors planning to call the D.C. Council's own general counsel, the deputy mayor for public safety and a cooperating witness who ran a city-funded nonprofit.
Federal court filings lay out the government's case in detail ahead of the trial before Judge Rudolph Contreras in U.S. District Court. A juror questionnaire references a three-week service period beginning Sept. 14, according to WUSA9 reporting on the filings published Aug. 11.
White has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege he agreed to accept $156,000 in bribes and received $35,000 in four cash payments in exchange for pressuring employees at the D.C. Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services to extend contracts for Allieu Kamara's nonprofit, Life Deeds, which held violence-interruption contracts with the city.
Who prosecutors plan to call
The government's witness list includes FBI Special Agent Matthew Gano, the lead investigator who signed the affidavit supporting White's August 2024 arrest. Kamara, the former head of Life Deeds, is identified as a cooperating witness.
Three senior District officials also appear on the list: Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah, Kwelli Sneed, director of the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and Nicole Streeter, general counsel to the D.C. Council. Prosecutors said they do not plan to call expert witnesses, relying instead on fact witnesses and investigative evidence.
Prosecutors expect to present their case over about five days. The defense estimates one to two days.
Key pretrial battles
Defense attorney Gary Kohlman has filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing prosecutors cannot prove White took any "official action" after allegedly accepting bribes. The argument leans on the Supreme Court's 2016 ruling in McDonnell v. United States, which narrowed the definition of official acts in bribery cases.
Kohlman has also asked the judge to block evidence of White's gambling at MGM Casino in Prince George's County. Prosecutors counter that the alleged bribe money was "almost immediately converted into gambling chips," according to The 51st's reporting on pretrial filings.
Separately, prosecutors want to bar White from claiming government entrapment. In pretrial filings reported by The 51st earlier this year, Kohlman called Kamara a "prodigious criminal fraudster" and argued White was induced into allegedly taking bribes.
What a conviction would mean for Ward 8
White currently holds his Ward 8 seat. His Council colleagues voted to expel him in February 2025 after his indictment, but Ward 8 voters returned him to office in a July 2025 special election.
Under D.C. law, a felony conviction would immediately remove White from office and trigger another special election. The D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability separately censured White in June 2026 and fined him $900 for failing to file three required financial disclosure statements.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro told NBC4 Washington in January 2026 that she expected a conviction. "I think the evidence is solid," Pirro said. "I don't like individuals who work for government, whether it's federal, state, local, and who use that as an opportunity to line their pockets."
The case is now assigned to one of the longest-tenured white-collar prosecutors in the D.C. U.S. Attorney's office. White's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Jury selection begins Sept. 14.
