The White House has condemned the alleged actions of a teleprompter operator accused of betting on the contents of President Donald Trump's speeches as "a disgrace." The employee has been placed on paid administrative leave pending a federal investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that President Trump was briefed on the matter and found the staffer's alleged conduct "deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace." Leavitt confirmed that a different teleprompter operator would handle Trump's speech on Thursday evening.
Sources cited by ABC News identified the staffer as Gabriel Perez, who has operated Trump's teleprompter since 2016. The investigation reportedly began after the prediction market Kalshi flagged unusual trades in March. These trades involved markets tied to words and phrases expected to appear in Trump's public remarks. Kalshi's surveillance systems detected that the trading patterns were atypical, prompting market makers to file complaints through the platform's whistleblower channels.
Kalshi reported that the trader was identified as a federal employee working as a White House teleprompter operator. The company stated it froze the account before the trader could withdraw most of the alleged profits, leaving over $90,000 on the platform. The matter was subsequently referred to federal regulators.
Robert DeNault, Kalshi's head of enforcement, confirmed that the exchange's surveillance team promptly flagged and referred the trades to the CFTC, and that the company has been assisting regulators with evidence. He noted that the markets in question were related to common words and topics expected in presidential speeches, such as country names, economic terms, campaign language, and social issues, rather than classified information.
A CFTC spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News that the staffer in question is fully cooperating with the CFTC and that the White House upholds strict ethics guidelines for all staffers and officials.