Washington, D.C
There’s ‘substantial evidence’ DC Councilmember Trayon White violated council rules, report finds – WTOP News
There’s “substantial evidence” that embattled DC Council member Trayon White accepted bribes in exchange for influencing government officials to renew…
There’s “substantial evidence” that embattled DC Council member Trayon White accepted bribes in exchange for influencing government officials to renew city contracts, according to a new report into White’s dealings released Wednesday.
White was arrested in August and is scheduled to stand trial on a federal bribery charge in 2026. Then, council members requested an independent probe to determine whether White violated any council rules.
In a 48-page report, put together by law firm Latham & Watkins, investigators say that White accepted $35,000 in cash from someone who operated several businesses holding or seeking contracts with D.C., or received subgrants or subcontracts from businesses that contracted with the city.
White accepted cash payments for agreeing to meet with and influence government officials, the report said, adding that he reviewed a ledger outlining the profits he expected to make, including a 3% cut for the grant renewals that he helped secure.
The report also says White met with government and agency employees to discuss contract renewals and contracts that an unnamed person had interest in.
Now, the council’s Ad Hoc Committee is scheduled to meet Monday morning to deliberate and consider recommending sanctions based on the report’s findings.
Through a spokeswoman, White declined to comment on the firm’s report.
White didn’t participate in interviews during the firm’s investigation, and didn’t provide certain documents that investigators requested.
“The report concludes that there is substantial evidence that Councilmember Trayon White engaged in conduct that violated several provisions of the D.C. Code of Conduct, including multiple rules within the D.C. Council’s Code of Official Conduct, with respect to the bribery allegations,” Ad Hoc committee chair Kenyan McDuffie said.
Council investigators also found substantial evidence that White engaged in behavior that has to be disclosed on yearly financial disclosure statements.
Council members have to consider whether there’s substantial evidence before considering actions. The substantial evidence standard, the report said, is different than the standard of proof used in White’s criminal case.
Meanwhile, while White has a connection to a property in Navy Yard, there’s not “substantial evidence” that he violated the council’s residency requirement, the report found.
Despite allegations White had been living there, investigators found White’s ownership of a Southeast property is “well-documented through property records and staff interviews.”
“The report also concludes that, while the investigation identified substantial evidence connecting Councilmember Trayon White to the 10K Hill South apartments, located in Ward 6, there is not substantial evidence to indicate that Councilmember White violated the residency requirements for councilmembers, as outlined in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973,” McDuffie’s statement said.
This fall, White won reelection against a Republican challenger, Nate Derenge. His win followed a not guilty plea in September. He’s accused of being caught on video taking cash from a business owner.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Road closures from the annual Cherry Blossom races will shut down tourist hot spots in the District this weekend.
Road closures from the annual Cherry Blossom races will shut down tourist hot spots in the District this weekend.
The Credit Union Cherry Blossom Races are put on by a consortium of credit unions that have donated nearly $9 million to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals since 2002. The 5K on Saturday and 10-miler on Sunday mark the 52nd anniversary of the races.
The races draw over 20,000 participants and spectators every year.
The 5K race will start and end on Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street NW in Downtown D.C., heading down Pennsylvania Avenue and cutting around multiple museums and federal buildings.
The 10-miler starts and finishes at the Washington Monument, curling down Independence Avenue SW, along the Kennedy Center, across the Arlington Memorial Bridge and back along the Tidal Basin.
Metrorail will open two hours early on Sunday so race day participants of the 10-mile run can make the race’s 7:30 a.m. start time.
The road closures for both events are outlined below.
Road closures
The 5K race starts at 9:15 a.m. Saturday. Long stretches along Pennsylvania Avenue between 9th and 14th streets will likely be blocked off to vehicles.
The Tidal Basin will remain open to pedestrian traffic, but use alternative modes of transportation to see the cherry blossoms as it’ll be difficult to drive and park.
The following streets will be closed to vehicle traffic and posted as Emergency No Parking on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. for the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s Petalpalooza event:
- 3rd Street from Tingey Street to Water Street SE
- 4th Street from Tingey Street to Water Street SE
- 4th Street from M Street to Tingey Street SE (southbound only)
- Water Street from 3rd Street to Tingey Street SE
The following streets will be closed to vehicle parking on Saturday from 2 a.m. to 11 a.m.
- Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd Street to 9th Street NW
- 3rd Street from C Street NW to D Street SW
- Independence Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street SW
- 4th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to D Street SW
- D Street from 3rd Street to 4th Street SW
The following streets will be closed completely on Saturday from 2 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.:
- Pennsylvania Avenue from 9th Street to 14th Street NW
- 13th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue NW
- 12th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW
- 11th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue NW
- 10th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW
The following streets will be closed completely on Saturday from 8:15 a.m. to 11 a.m.:
- Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd Street to 9th Street NW
- 9th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW
- D Street from 8th Street to 9th Street NW
- 7th Street from Indiana Avenue to Constitution Avenue NW
- 6th Street from C Street to Constitution Avenue NW
- Constitution Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street NW
- Independence Avenue from Washington Avenue to 7th Street SW
- 4th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to D Street SW
- D Street from 3rd Street to 4th Street SW
- 6th Street from Independence Avenue to Maryland Avenue SW
- 3rd Street from C Street, NW to Virginia Avenue SW
The following streets will be closed on Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.:
- Ohio Drive around East Potomac Park
- Arlington Memorial Bridge
- Rock Creek Parkway to Virginia Avenue
- West and East Basin Drives
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Obama responded to the photobomb on Instagram, saying, ‘Preston and Belle, I hope you enjoyed peak bloom! My bad for stepping into the shot.’
Obama raps Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ at Harris rally
Rapper Eminem introduced former president Barack Obama at a Kamala Harris rally. Obama returned the favor by reciting Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”
A Virginia family’s cherry blossoms photoshoot in Washington D.C. didn’t go as planned after a bystander walked into a frame meant only to include their two toddlers.
However, Falls Church resident Portia Moore had no complaints as the photobomber in question was former President Barack Obama.
Dedicating her full attention to the photoshoot at 7 a.m. Monday morning, Moore said she did not notice the 44th president passing by until her husband pointed him out.
“Once their shoot is all done I was like, ‘Jamie, what did you say?’ He was like ‘That’s President Obama over there,’ and I was like ‘Oh my goodness,’” Moore told USA TODAY Wednesday. “I was like, ‘You should’ve grabbed me and made more of a big deal about it.’”
Briana Inell, the photographer the family hired, proceeded to snap photos of Obama from about 20 to 30 feet away as he roamed the Tidal Basin tourist area. Soon after, Inell looked through their photographs and noticed the Democrat casually walking right by Moore’s 20-month-old son, Preston, and four-month-old daughter, Belle.
Inell said the image will sit right at the center of a six-by-two grid framed at their home in Falls Church, about 10 miles from DC.
Photographer also didn’t notice Obama photobomb
Inell, who has previously worked with the family, said she failed to notice Obama’s photobombing as the Tidal Basin area is typically so packed during tourist season. It wasn’t until she heard Moore’s grandparents point him out that she spotted him along with several Secret Service agents.
After several years as a DC-based photographer, she finally got to cross photographing a former president off her bucket list.
“I’ve always wanted to see Obama, and I am so shocked and surprised that it actually happened to me,” Inell said.
Obama himself posted on Instagram Monday to show off his own photos of the D.C. cherry blossoms, which typically bloom between March and April.
“It’s fun to be able to play tourist once in a while. The cherry blossoms were beautiful this morning!” he wrote.
Obama even responded to the photobomb on Instagram, commenting under Smith’s post: “Preston and Belle, I hope you enjoyed peak bloom! My bad for stepping into the shot.”
The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation Tuesday that changes the city’s open meeting law to allow private meetings in certain situations. Critics of the measure are pouncing on the change, saying it would dramatically modify the way the city operates. But city officials insist it’s needed.
The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation Tuesday that changes the city’s open meetings law to allow private meetings in certain situations. Critics of the measure are pouncing on the change, saying it would dramatically modify the way the city operates. But city officials insist it’s needed.
Under this new law, council members will be allowed to have private meetings without the required two days of notice to the public, as long as the meeting is to discuss a possible terrorist threat, public health threats or to meet with the mayor. During those meetings, no votes or official actions can be taken.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson argued that council members were not allowed to discuss items among themselves without the fear someone will claim they violated the current law.
“Sometimes we want to have a conversation, and they can’t be public, or we won’t have those conversations,” he said.
The council passed the emergency legislation 10-2. Once signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, the law will be enacted for 90 days, during which the council will consider what changes it wants in a permanent bill. It will hold a public hearing April 22 to discuss the matter.
Mendelson said with the Trump administration in office, it is almost impossible for city officials to privately discuss strategy without running afoul of open meetings. He said the current law hinders getting anything done.
The bill gives the city more flexibility, Mendelson said, when it comes to dealing with federal issues and interference from Congress, especially after lawmakers passed a recent spending bill that cut $1 billion from the city’s budget.
But critics of the law are pushing back.
In a lengthy letter to the D.C. Council, the D.C. Open Government Coalition said the bill poses a substantial threat to government transparency and should not be enacted without more public input.
The coalition argued the council could resolve the issues “more efficiently through the modification of its rules without exacting such a toll on public access,” noting the bills have been in the works since at least last October.
“Regardless of what the DECLARATION says, there is no emergency — no ‘situation that adversely affects the health, safety, welfare, or economic well-being of the District, its residents, its businesses, or other persons or entities,’” Coalition Chairman Robert S. Becker said in the letter.
The legislation also gives an open meeting exemption to “consequential, large-scale business and economic development,” such as the recently completed, nearly $1 billion deal with Monumental Sports & Entertainment to remodel Capital One Arena.
Critics of the legislation say the timing is unusual, especially since the city, Washington Commanders and NFL could begin negotiations for a new stadium and they feel that information will be kept secret.
However, a city official told WTOP no member of the council has had any negotiations or discussions with the Commanders or the NFL about building a new stadium at the RFK Stadium campus and Mayor Muriel Bowser is the one taking part in those discussions.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Seydou Traore Enters Transfer Portal
Democrats Kelly, Davids denounce Trump's tariff war as harmful to Kansas farmers, consumers
Preview of Kentucky baseball’s three-game series with Ole Miss
Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance (GBRIA): Shaping a strong and sustaining future for south Louisiana
Man kills mother in moving car, then kills passing motorist and injures others, Maine police say
-
News1 week agoTrump Is Trying to Gain More Power Over Elections. Is His Effort Legal?
-
News1 week agoWashington Bends to RFK Jr.’s ‘MAHA’ Agenda on Measles, Baby Formula and French Fries
-
World1 week agoAt least six people killed in Israeli attacks on southern Syria
-
News1 week agoCompanies Pull Back From Pride Events as Trump Targets D.E.I.
-
Technology1 week agoTrump officials planned a military strike over Signal – with a magazine editor on the line
-
Technology1 week agoThe FBI launched a task force to investigate Tesla attacks
-
World1 week agoNo, Norway and Sweden haven't banned digital transactions
-
Culture1 week agoAnalysing Jamal Musiala’s bizarre corner goal for Germany against Italy