Trump's Teleprompter Operator Under Federal Probe for Betting on the President's Own Words

The man who runs President Trump's teleprompter is under federal investigation for allegedly making nearly $100,000 by betting on the very words the president was about to say, according to people familiar with the matter. Gabriel Perez, who has operated the device for Trump since 2016, is now in settlement talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over trades placed on the prediction-market platform Kalshi.

The bets were placed on so-called "mention markets," where users wager on whether the president will or won't utter particular words or phrases during public events. Because Perez had advance access to Trump's prepared remarks, investigators believe he held a decisive information advantage over other traders, according to the sources. He has been placed on unpaid leave and is not operating the teleprompter for Thursday night's address to the nation.

The scheme was uncovered not by the government but by Kalshi itself. The company's surveillance systems flagged unusual betting on Trump "mention" markets that did not match typical trading behavior, and when Kalshi examined the accounts behind the wagers, it discovered that one belonged to a federal employee. The case was then referred to regulators.

CFTC investigators found that Perez placed bets on more than a dozen Trump speeches over a roughly three-month period, according to the people familiar with the probe. Those included a December primetime address, the president's January remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and comments Trump made during a March Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House.

Regulators have signaled a willingness to settle. People familiar with the talks said the CFTC has discussed terms that would require Perez to surrender his profits and agree not to make similar trades in the future. The episode is believed to be the first known instance of officials investigating suspected insider trading on a prediction market from inside the White House itself — a striking illustration of how the booming, newly legal event-betting industry is colliding with government ethics rules.

Neither Perez nor his representatives have commented publicly. The White House confirmed that he had been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, and said the teleprompter for Thursday's high-stakes address would be handled by someone else. Kalshi, which won federal approval to operate event markets after a lengthy court fight, said it cooperated fully with regulators and has since tightened monitoring of accounts tied to government employees. The company has staked its business on the promise that its markets are policed as rigorously as any traditional exchange.