WATCH: Trump believes his Kalshi-betting teleprompter operator is a 'disgrace,' Leavitt says

1 hour ago 2

Jul 16, 2026 2:26 PM EDT

President Donald Trump is aware of reports that a White House teleprompter operator won thousands of dollars on an online betting platform after betting on the content of some of the president's speeches, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.

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Trump "believes it's deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace," Leavitt said, adding that the employee has been put on unpaid administrative leave, a decision made by the president, and is cooperating with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

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Later, she said that no other staffers are under investigation and that the White House counsel had no awareness of the alleged bets.

"There are very strict ethical guidelines here at the White House that explicitly state not to do this, and the White House counsel's office makes that clear to all of us who sign up to work in government on behalf of the president, so I think there has been a plan in place. This individual unfortunately violated the plan and therefore he's paying the consequences for it," she said.

The operator, Gabriel Perez, is alleged to have won more than $100,000 on bets made on the online prediction market Kalshi. He allegedly bet on more than a dozen Trump speeches, including the State of the Union in February and the president's speech at a Medal of Honor ceremony.

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