Trump teleprompter aide put on unpaid leave over betting allegations
The White House said an aide is on unpaid leave after ABC News reported alleged wagers tied to Trump’s prepared remarks on Kalshi.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
A White House teleprompter operator has been placed on unpaid leave after allegations that he used advance knowledge of President Donald Trump’s remarks to win bets on an online prediction market. The case raises questions about controls around staff access to presidential speeches and markets that let users wager on public events.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that Trump knows about the matter and called it “unfortunate” and “a disgrace.” She said the White House has “extremely strict ethical guidelines with respect to issues like this” and confirmed the aide is on unpaid leave.
ABC News reported Thursday that Gabriel Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, won more than $100,000 by betting on what Trump would say in major speeches, including this year’s State of the Union address. ABC News said its account was based on multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously to discuss details.
The bets were allegedly placed on Kalshi, an online prediction market. ABC News described activity on Kalshi’s “Mentions” market, where users can wager on whether certain words or phrases will appear in public speeches.
Robert Denault, Kalshi’s lawyer and head of enforcement, said on X that the company’s surveillance team flagged the trades, investigated them and referred them to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC regulates such markets.
Denault did not identify Perez in his statement. He said Kalshi has been helping regulators and turned over the evidence it collected, adding that the company does the same with any referral.
Kalshi recently began requiring users to disclose where they work, according to the Associated Press. The platform’s rules bar users from betting with information they obtained through their jobs.
Scrutiny over profits tied to the presidency
The allegations arrive as Trump and people in his administration face continued scrutiny over money-making ventures connected to his presidency. Trump’s aides have defended his personal and family business practices.
On Thursday, Trump’s media company announced plans to charge for special high-speed access to Truth Social posts, including posts that could involve national security or financial markets, according to the Associated Press.
Trump’s most recent financial disclosures showed that he reported making $1.2 billion from crypto businesses in 2025, according to the Associated Press. The required annual filing with the Office of Government Ethics showed more than $500 million from World Liberty Financial’s sales of new crypto products, including governance tokens, and more than $600 million from CIC Digital LLC’s sales of Trump-branded meme coins.
The Associated Press reported that both the tokens and the coins have fallen in value since the sales. Trump has also earned money from merchandising deals and political and official events held at his properties, increasing his net worth since returning to office, according to the report.
Leavitt said earlier this year that Trump is following conflict-of-interest laws that apply to the president. She also said it was “absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency.”
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.