Trump teleprompter aide on leave over insider betting claims

A White House teleprompter operator was on paid administrative leave amid an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday. She said she was aware of reports claiming that the individual made money on prediction trading markets using insider information from the president’s speeches. The teleprompter operator was complying with investigators, she said.

Leavitt added that President Donald Trump was also aware of the situation. He described it as deeply unfortunate and a disgrace, she said.

What else do we know about the situation? While Leavitt did not name the individual, ABC News reported identified him as Gabriel Perez, the president’s longtime teleprompter operator. The outlet also said that Perez made tens of thousands of dollars on the Kalshi trading platform by placing bets on details of over a dozen of Trump’s speeches. The outlet cited unnamed sources within the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The commission told WORLD in an email that it could not confirm or deny the existence of such an investigation. Kalshi did not immediately return WORLD’s requests for comment.

Dig deeper: Read my report on the Senate’s decision earlier this year to ban its members from prediction market trading.