President Trump's teleprompter operator is on unpaid leave after reports that he used his inside knowledge to make bets about the president's speeches on the online prediction market Kalshi, the White House said Thursday. Trump has been briefed on the issue and he "believes it's deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace," press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. ABC News reported Thursday that Gabriel Perez, who has been operating Trump's teleprompter since 2016, used his inside knowledge to win more than $100,000 betting on what the president would say in big speeches, including the State of the Union address earlier this year.
Leavitt said no other staffers are under investigation, PBS News reports. "There are very strict ethical guidelines here at the White House that explicitly state not to do this, and the White House counsel's office makes that clear to all of us who sign up to work in government on behalf of the president, so I think there has been a plan in place," she said. "This individual unfortunately violated the plan and therefore he's paying the consequences for it."
Robert Denault, Kalshi's lawyer and head of enforcement, said on X that the "Kalshi surveillance team promptly flagged, investigated and referred these trades" to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission that has regulatory authority over such matters, the AP reports. "We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided all evidence that we collected, as we do with any referral," he added. Leavitt said Perez is complying with the CFTC's investigation. "There will be a teleprompter operator tonight, of course, but it will not be the one, unfortunately, in that story," she said, per Newsweek.
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