Trayon White reportedly donated $500 of constituent funds to a Nation of Islam event in which leader Louis Farrakhan made anti-Semitic comments. (Twitter: @TrayonWhite)
DC lawmaker accused of anti-Semitism reportedly gave constituent funds to Louis Farrakhan event
By Matt Richardson | Fox News
A D.C. council member is under fire for allegedly donating $500 to a Nation of Islam event in which leader Louis Farrakhan declared that “powerful Jews are my enemy,” a new report claims.
According to The Washington Post, Trayon White Sr. made the Jan. 29 donation from an account for his constituents.
The private funds were reportedly raised by lawmakers with the intention of being used for members of the community.
Instead White, a Democrat representing Ward 8, allegedly donated to the Nation of Islam’s “Saviours Day,” a weekend gathering each year in which Farrakhan made controversial comments about Jews.
At that February event, Farrakhan railed against Jews, who he claimed were in charge of the FBI and “were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out turning men into women and women into men.” At the event, Farrakhan also reportedly claimed that both “powerful Jews” and the government were his enemies.
White told The Post that he didn’t know about the donation, but defended the group in broader terms.
“The Brothers from the Nation are of the few men that show up to help . . . us address crime and social ills in Southeast. They also run a feeding program in several public housing communities in ward 8,” White reportedly wrote in a text message to the outlet. “I’m a Christian but I support a lot of people and all religions who support my community.”
An official with White’s constituent fund told The Post that White personally ordered the funds be provided to the group.
“He said to me, ‘I want you to make a payment to the Nation of Islam for Saviours’ Day,’” Darryl Ross, the fund’s treasurer, told The Post. “So I went on the website to get the information I needed in order to make the payment.”
The controversy surrounding the contributions follows an outcry over previous anti-Semitic remarks White has made. Last month White claimed that rich Jews control the weather.
“Man, it just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man,” White said in a Facebook video. “Y’all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation.
“And that’s a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man.”
During the 19th century, the Rothschild family had one of the world’s largest fortunes, amassed through banking and other endeavors.
In a subsequent visit to the Holocaust museum, White reportedly questioned the accuracy of the actions of a Nazi in a 1935 photograph.
White has a May 3 deadline to explain the donation to campaign finance officials and could be fined if they determine that the money given was improper.
Fox News’ Samuel Chamberlain and Lukas Mikelionis contributed to this report.