On the third day of Ward 8 D.C. Council member Trayon White’s federal bribery trial, much of the testimony came down to one big question: Could jurors believe Allieu Kamara?
Kamara is the businessman who handed White envelopes of cash on multiple occasions in 2024 while secretly recording him for the FBI. Prosecutors say those payments — totaling $35,000 — were part of a bribe in exchange for White helping Kamara’s companies with D.C. government contracts. White has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor Rebecca Ross on Thursday first walked Kamara through more of the recordings first played for the jurors on Wednesday. Kamara told jurors they showed what he described as a “pay to play” agreement between him and White, and White agreeing to take part.
Kamara acknowledged that he hoped his cooperation with the government could lead to a lighter sentence in his own bank fraud and bribery case.
But prosecutors also focused on what could happen if he fails to uphold his end of the deal. Kamara testified that lying could violate the agreement and potentially expose him to additional charges or more prison time.
As for what the FBI told him to do, Kamara said: “Tell the truth. That’s all I have to do, to be honest.”
White’s attorney, Gary Kohlman, then spent hours trying to pick apart Kamara’s story — focusing on his criminal past, his memory and what he could gain from cooperating with the FBI.
Kohlman brought up fraudulent COVID-era loans. Kamara is awaiting sentencing for taking kickbacks from loans he helped ineligible firms apply for. One of the companies belonged to the mother of three of Kamara’s six children, and a former member of the military who served with him in the Army.
Kamara responded that the others involved “are all grown,” arguing they could have chosen not to participate in the scheme.
Back to the case against White, the defense tried to raise doubts about whether White even knew the cash he accepted was intended as a bribe.
In one recording, White can be heard saying, “You don’t have to give me anything.”
Kamara pushed back: “He put the money in his pocket and took it.”
Kamara also told Kohlman that campaign donations in the past were given to White in a similar fashion.
Kohlman argued that during conversations about the alleged agreement, White could be seen talking about other things and looking at his phone rather than the legal pad Kamara says contained details of their arrangement.
The defense highlighted calls between the two men that were never recorded and gaps in Kamara’s memory. At one point, Kohlman asked, “Are you telling the jury you don’t have a good memory?”
Kohlman also challenged Kamara’s account of a separate alleged $20,000 bribe from 2019, which White is not charged with in this case. The defense showed an FBI document describing one payment, while Kamara testified there were two.
“Whoever wrote this document put wrong stuff on it,” Kamara said.
Kohlman also pressed Kamara on why he could not produce bank records showing withdrawals of the money he says he used for the alleged 2019 bribe. Kamara said he never searched for those transactions, citing the large number of transactions across his many bank accounts.
At times, the back-and-forth became heated. Kamara repeatedly accused Kohlman of putting words in his mouth. Kamara at times put his hand up or pointed at Kholman as the two interrupted one another.
At one point, Kamara answering, “That was not a part of the script,” after he told Kohlman he wasn’t following an FBI script with White, drew an audible gasp from White’s supporters in the courtroom. Judge Rudolph Contreras later told those in the courtroom to keep their reactions to themselves.
The nature of Kamara and White’s relationship also came up.
The defense has referred to Kamara as White’s brother-in-law, while Kamara says he is not. Kamara testified that the mother of his three other children declared a common-law marriage with him this year, something he said was his “first time hearing.”
The defense continued to maintain that the woman is White’s half-sister.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s name came up during questioning after the defense claimed Kamara told the FBI he bribed other D.C. officials, including the mayor. Kamara denied that, saying he “never paid the mayor a bribe.”
Throughout the cross-examination, Kohlman repeatedly suggested that parts of the government’s case amounted to “nothing but your word,” while pointing to instances in Kamara’s past when he had not been truthful.
Kamara told Kohlman that “everything you talk about is in the past” and that’s he is telling the truth.
The prosecution will get a chance to question Kamara again on Friday.
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