One of President Donald Trump’s technical assistants has been accused of betting on Kalshi about what the president will say, according to a new report from ABC News. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged the report on Thursday and said the man, who has been operating Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, has been placed on unpaid administrative leave. The accused, identified by ABC News as Gabriel Perez, allegedly placed bets on the content of more than a dozen speeches. The reporting cites unnamed investigators with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has been investigating insider trading on betting markets. Perez reportedly made more than $100,000 betting on what Trump would say in his speeches. As someone in charge of the president’s teleprompter, Perez would obviously have access to an inside track on that info. Kalshi was the one to alert the CFTC, according to ABC News, and the White House says Perez is cooperating with the agency.
Karoline Leavitt was asked about the case on Thursday, and she initially said a member of the teleprompter team was on paid administrative leave. She then corrected herself, saying the person was on unpaid leave and that someone else would be working the teleprompter tonight when Trump delivers an address to the nation. That address is widely expected to focus on Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. President Joe Biden won that election, and there’s been no evidence of widespread fraud that would’ve changed the outcome.
