According to a new report from ABC News, one of President Donald Trump’s technical aides has been accused of betting Kalshi on what the president would say. White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt acknowledged the report Thursday and said the person who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016 has been placed on unpaid administrative leave.
the accused identified by ABC News As Gabriel Perez, it is alleged that he bet on the content of more than ten speeches. The report cites unnamed Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigators investigating insider trading in betting markets.
Perez reportedly bet more than $100,000 on what Trump would say in his speeches. As the man in charge of the president’s teleprompter, Perez certainly has access to the inside track of this information. According to ABC News, it was Kalshi who alerted the CFTC, and the White House said Perez was cooperating with the agency.
Caroline Leavitt was asked about the matter Thursday, and she initially said a member of the teleprompter team was on paid administrative leave. He later corrected himself, saying that the person was on unpaid leave and that someone else would be manning the teleprompter tonight during Trump’s address to the nation. This appeal is expected to focus on Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. President Joe Biden won this election and there is no evidence of widespread fraud that would have changed the result.
A reporter in the White House briefing room on Thursday noted journalists not being able to access Kalshi and Polymarket on the local wifi network. He asked the press secretary if other employees in the West Wing had access to it, which Leavitt said he didn’t know.
“Look, the White House has very strict ethics rules that clearly say not to do that,” Leavitt said.
According to ABC News, Trump’s erratic behavior during speeches has apparently created a problem for Perez, who allegedly will back out on certain bets mid-speech if the president skips a part of the speech that is in text. When the CFTC apparently notified federal prosecutors in Manhattan about the bets, they reportedly declined to open a criminal investigation, though it’s unclear why.
Perez was allegedly betting on so-called “mention markets” where people could bet on whether a particular word would be mentioned. The mentioned bazaars in Kalshi are already over $1.1 million bet On what Trump will say Thursday night.
As of this writing, there’s a 98% chance he’ll say “election,” a 55% chance Trump will say “Iran” at least three times, a 52% chance he’ll say “stock market,” and a 49% chance he’ll say “alien.”
As far as long-term bets go, there’s a 22% chance he’ll say “transgender” and a 4% chance he’ll say “crypto” or “bitcoin.”
