White House teleprompter operator sacked for betting on Trump’s speeches
Gabriel Perez made over $100,000 by trading on presidential speeches via Kalshi, which reported the suspicious activity to the regulatory authorities.
The White House teleprompter operator, who earned over $100,000 by betting on Donald Trump’s speeches, has been sacked by the administration. This was announced by spokesperson Karoline Leavitti during a press briefing.
Gabriel Perez, the president’s technical assistant who has been managing Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, earned tens of thousands of dollars by betting on the State of the Union address last February and on over a dozen other speeches by the tycoon via the betting platform Kalshi.
According to ABC, it was the platform itself that reported the suspicious activity to its own regulatory body, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “The White House adheres to strict ethical guidelines, which we expect all staff and officials to comply with,” Leavitt emphasised.
Among the speeches by Trump used by Perez over a three-month period was also the prime-time address in December, the one delivered in January 2026 at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), and the one in March during a ceremony to present the Medals of Honour.
Speaking to CNBC, Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s head of compliance, explained that “our surveillance team promptly reported these transactions to the [Commodity Futures Trading Commission]. We have assisted the regulators with this matter and provided the evidence we have gathered, as we do in any report.”
