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February 2, 2025
Is there any unethical or corrupt DC official whom Frederick D. Cooke Jr. won’t defend? Does he not think residents have the right to demand an honest and responsible government? Is it acceptable that politicians continue to receive taxpayer-financed salaries after deliberately and blatantly violating the law?
Those questions crossed my mind as I watched the DC Council’s recent public hearing held in advance of its vote next week on a resolution that would expel Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White Sr. from office.
Last summer, White was arrested — and subsequently indicted by a grand jury — after he was caught on tape agreeing to accept $156,000 in bribes offered by a DC contractor turned FBI informant. The bribery-accepting spree was halted by White’s arrest in August. Between June and August, he had pocketed as much as $35,000, according to federal government documents and videotape evidence.
At White’s arraignment on a federal bribery charge, Cooke entered a plea of not guilty on his client’s behalf. His criminal trial is scheduled for January 2026.
Soon after the arrest, Council Chair Phil Mendelson announced plans to remove White as chair of the Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs. Mendelson also established an ad hoc committee that included all councilmembers except White. Its responsibility was to investigate whether he had violated any DC laws or rules that govern legislators’ behavior and activities. A law firm, Watkins & Latham, was later hired to assist with the probe and make recommendations.
In December, the investigators concluded that there was substantial evidence against White. The council committee recommended his expulsion.
I had reached that conclusion months earlier. The FBI affidavit made it difficult to ignore that bribes had been taken and, what’s more, that White had offered to create additional opportunities where he could accept more bribes.
Help us! The level of corruption was breathtaking.
Still, the process of relieving the legislature of a low-performing, crooked politician, who never provided the representation Ward 8 residents needed and deserved, has been allowed to drag on so long that the upcoming vote will occur a month after he was sworn in for a third term.
This week, in a page taken straight from the Donald J. Trump book on how to get away with political corruption, Cooke, with White at his side, challenged the council’s authority to discipline one of its members and to take the actions necessary to restore the public’s trust.
During my nearly 40 years covering local politics, I had seen countless versions of that very scene. After his tenure from 1987 through 1989 as DC corporation counsel — that’s what the city government’s top lawyer was then called — Cooke appeared to be on speed dial for every corrupt government official and politician. Most were indisputable violators of the public’s trust.
I know, I know: The U.S. judicial system provides that everyone is entitled to legal representation. Cooke, therefore, was fulfilling an essential role.
However, was he prohibited from turning down a case? Was there no situation where his ethics compelled him to say no?
When then-Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. was arrested and charged with buying clothing, cars and trips using $350,000 of taxpayer funds earmarked for underserved youth, Cooke was among the first lawyers to stand with him. Later, Karl Racine, the man who would become the city’s first elected attorney general, represented Thomas in federal court before he was sentenced to 38 months in prison.
