On Thursday, July 16, the White House informed that President Donald Trump’s teleprompter operator has been sent on leave without pay. He is accused of betting on the President’s speeches on the online prediction market ‘Kalashi’ using inside information of the White House.
The company’s enforcement chief said that Kalshi had contacted federal regulators in this regard. On behalf of Kalshi, officials were informed about betting on their portal about what will be mentioned in the President’s public speeches.
White House told – Trump is aware of the matter
White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said that President Trump is aware of the situation. He has called it unfortunate and shameful. Levitt told reporters that the White House has very strict rules and regulations regarding such matters and the employee in question has been sent on leave without pay.
Won $100,000 by predicting words from the President’s speeches
ABC News reported Thursday that Gabriel Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, won more than $100,000 by using inside information about the White House. He had bet on the words Trump would say in his big speeches. Also included is the ‘State of the Union’ speech given earlier this year.
Name of teleprompter operator not mentioned in Kalshi’s statement
Kalshi’s lawyer and enforcement head Robert Denault told X that ‘Kalshi’s surveillance team immediately identified these trades. Investigated them and referred them to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. However, Perez was not named in his statement.
Denault further said that ‘We are assisting the regulators in this matter and have handed over all the evidence we have collected to them, as we do in the case of any referral.’ At the same time, ABC has now disclosed the entire matter in its report along with the name.
ABC report mentions suspicious activities in Kalshi’s platform
ABC has prepared its report on the basis of several sources who have information about this matter, but they have kept the condition of keeping their identity secret. The ABC report noted suspicious activity on Kalshi’s market, where users could place bets on which phrases and specific words might be used in public speeches.
Betrayal on more than a dozen speeches in three months
According to sources, apart from the ‘State of the Union’ speech in February this year, CFTC investigators found that Perez had placed bets on more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches over a three-month period. These included Trump’s prime-time speech in December 2025, a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, and Trump’s comments during the ‘Medal of Honor’ ceremony in March.
Internal memo against Perez was issued in March
In March itself, the White House issued an internal memo to staff warning them not to use information that is not public to bet in the prediction market. Perez has been one of Trump’s teleprompter operators since his first presidential election campaign.
Sources say that of all Trump’s close aides, Perez usually has the final say on the president’s prepared speeches. Often it is Trump who makes changes at the last moment. Earlier, Trump was questioned by Congress and federal investigators regarding changes made in his speeches during the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
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