DC politician arrested for taking $150,000 in bribes

A Washington DC councilmember has been arrested for allegedly accepting $150,000 in bribes. 

Trayon White Sr, a Democrat who ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign in 2022, is accused of using his elected position to help companies with city contracts. 

The FBI arrested White, 40, on a federal bribery charge on Sunday. He is expected to make his initial court appearance on Monday. 

White has previously been known for promoting unhinged antisemitic conspiracy theories.  

An FBI agent's affidavit says White agreed in June to accept roughly $156,000 in kickbacks and cash payments in exchange for pressuring government agency employees to extend two companies' contracts for violence intervention services. 

The contacts were worth over $5 million.

White also accepted a $20,000 bribe payment to help resolve a contract dispute for one of the companies by pressuring high-level district officials, the affidavit alleges.

An FBI informant who agreed to plead guilty to fraud and bribery charges reported giving White gifts including travel to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas along with paying him bribes, the FBI said.

White, who has served on the D.C. council since 2017, represents a predominantly Black ward where the poverty rate is nearly twice as high as the overall district. 

He is running for re-election in November against a Republican challenger.

White's chief of staff and communication director didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The councilman is also known for igniting a firestorm in March 2018 when he posted a short video on his Facebook page claiming that an unexpected snowfall was because of 'the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters.' 

Fellow council members and Jewish community leaders accused White of spreading an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about Jewish control of world events. 

The Rothschilds, a prominent Jewish family whose banking dynasty dates back to the 18th century, are a frequent target of global conspiracy theories.

White later apologized for the remark.

Initially, he expressed surprised that some interpreted his comments as antisemitic, telling The Post 'The video says what it says.'

But in the wake of the controversy, White said he had reached out to his 'friends' at Jews United for Justice who helped him 'understand the history of comments made against Jews.'

White then tried to reconciliate with the Jewish community with a visit to the Holocaust museum - but this ended in disaster when he began defending Nazis during the 90-minute guided tour of the institution. 

While viewing a photograph from 1935 of a woman surrounded by Nazi soldiers with a sign hanging from her neck that read: 'I am a German girl and allowed myself to be defiled by a Jew,' White asked, 'Are they protecting her?' 

'No,' the guide explained to White, according to the Washington Post. She added, 'They're marching her through.'

'Marching through is protecting,' White said.

'I think they're humiliating her,' the guide replied.

To make matters worse, White left early, texting Rabbi Batya Glazer, a director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, who was also in attendance, that he was expected at a meeting. 

However, White was seen walking around aimlessly outside of the museum.