‘A Disgrace’: White House Teleprompter Operator Placed on Leave After Alleged Scheme Uncovered

A teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump has been benched amid a federal investigation into bets he placed on the prediction platform Kalshi.

ABC News identified the individual as Gabriel Perez, who has been Trump’s teleprompter operator since 2016. The outlet reported that Perez won more than $100,000 by predicting what Trump would say in various speeches.

According to CNBC, Kalshi froze most of the money after bets on the “Mentions” market were considered suspicious. That market includes the chance to bet on words or phrases Trump might use in a given speech.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating Perez. Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, said the company is cooperating with the investigation.

Kalshi said trades were flagged in March that were outside of normal patterns.

“Obviously, I’m aware of the report,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, according to a video posted on X.

“The president is too. I spoke with him about it. He believes it’s deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace,” she said.

NEW: @aishahhasnie asks @PressSec about a White House teleprompter operator who has been placed on unpaid administrative leave after a report alleges he profited from online bets because he had prior access to President Trump’s speeches:

“[President Trump] believes it’s deeply… pic.twitter.com/7XBmAGCdhD

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 16, 2026

“The individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC, but has been put on paid administrative leave,” Leavitt said. “So, there will be a teleprompter operator tonight, of course, but it will not be the one, unfortunately.”

The New York Post noted that Leavitt quickly corrected herself.

“I’m sorry, without pay. The administrative leave is unpaid. To be very clear, that was a decision by the president,” she said.

The White House “has extremely strict ethical guidelines with respect to issues like this, and as I just told you, this individual will no longer be here,” she said.

ABC News said Perez bet on Trump’s State of the Union address to Congress in February and multiple other speeches between December and March.

Investigators found Perez would back out of bets he made if a word he expected Trump to use was not mentioned.

Later in March, the White House issued a memo telling staff not to use inside information to make bets in prediction markets.

Perez has met with federal regulators, who have discussed settling with Perez under terms that would take back any profits and require him not to make similar bets in the future.

The CFTC has given federal prosecutors in Manhattan a heads-up about the case, ABC News reported, but no criminal investigation was opened.

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