White House teleprompter operator on leave over insider trading scandal
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that an aide to President Donald trump, Gabriel Perez, will no longer be employed at the White House amid ongoing investigations into his use of privileged details for betting on the prediction market Kalshi. Perez reportedly earned over $100,000 by wagering on specific words Trump would use in speeches. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) was notified of suspicious activity, and perez is cooperating with the inquiry. Leavitt emphasized that Perez is no longer paid by the governance and described the incident as deeply unfortunate and a disgrace. She also highlighted that the White House responded appropriately by suspending Perez and noted efforts to establish guidelines to prevent future insider trading. The briefing included related news stories and coverage of the incident, with a video of Leavitt’s full statement available online.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that an aide to President Donald Trump “will no longer be working at the White House” amid investigations into his use of privileged information to make bets on prediction market Kalshi.
On Thursday morning, ABC reported that Gabriel Perez, one of Trump‘s teleprompter operators, won more than $100,000 by wagering on specific words that Trump would use in more than a dozen of the president’s speeches this year.
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ABC reported that Kalshi itself notified the Commodity Futures Trading Commission of suspicious activity on Perez’s account and that Perez was cooperating with the CFTC investigation.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt faced a number of questions on the topic Thursday during her first briefing since returning from maternity leave.
Leavitt told reporters that she had spoken to Trump about the report and that the president believes Perez’s behavior is “deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.”
Leavitt originally said Perez had been placed on “paid administrative leave” before clarifying that Perez was no longer being paid by the administration.
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“I think this played out exactly how it should,” she added, when asked about new guardrails that may be set up to prevent future insider trading situations in the future. “Kalshi notified the CFTC of suspicious activity. They investigated that, identified the individual, and he will now no longer be working at the White House, so I think that answers all the questions on this matter.”
Leavitt’s briefing can be seen in full below.
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