White’s attorney accuses Pirro of racial motivation in seeking another indictment

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. announced last week it intends to seek a superseding indictment against Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White. 

Prosecutors said they hope to retry White sometime next year, and that could include more charges than the one bribery charge he faced last month, which ended in a mistrial.

White’s lead attorney, Gary Kohlman, said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s decision to retry the Ward 8 councilmember was motivated by his race.

“I’ve never once gone down that direction,” Kohlman told News4 in an exclusive interview. “But in this case, I don’t see any other possible rationale for what’s happening other than singling out an African American who happens to be dearly beloved and a four-time elected official from a majority of African Americans in Anacostia.” 

“That is absurd, OK? We don’t care what color he is. We care about the people of this District,” Pirro said of the accusation. 

Kohlman, who said he never dealt with Pirro in the past, told News4 he tried to reach out to her. 

“We went all the way up the line from the line attorneys that tried the case to their supervisors, to the supervisor above that, and all the way to her, asking for an audience just to simply put the cards on the table and have a frank discussion about the case,” Kohlman said. 

The attorney said that if they remain on the case, he intends to argue that the councilmember has been targeted. 

Kohlman said he would call Pirro as a witness for a hearing. 

Kohlman said he believed part of the reason why the U.S. Attorney’s Office wanted to get a superseding indictment is to leave the councilmember defenseless, because he wouldn’t be able to afford the current defense team that has been representing him.

“Anybody that follows the criminal justice system knows that to put together a defense when you’re going up against the United States government, with all the resources that they had to put up a vigorous defense like we did in that first trial, there’s no two ways about it,” Kohlman said. “It takes time, and time unfortunately translates out to money. And this is a calculated effort. They know that.” 

Councilmember White is due back in court early next year for a status hearing. If prosecutors move forward with another trial, it would begin in May. 

White has told supporters he is considering a legal defense fund to collect donations to help with his legal costs.