The man who loads President Donald Trump's words into the teleprompter has been quietly betting on which of those words the president would actually say — and winning big, sources told ABC News.
Gabriel Perez, a technical assistant who has run Trump's teleprompter since 2016, allegedly pocketed more than $100,000 on the prediction market Kalshi by wagering on Trump's speeches, according to sources familiar with a Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigation. He placed bets on more than a dozen addresses over three months, the sources said, including February's State of the Union, a January speech in Davos, and a March Medal of Honor ceremony.
Perez typically gets the final look at Trump's prepared remarks and takes last-minute edits from the president himself, the sources said. Investigators found that Perez also backed out of wagers mid-speech when Trump skipped a word he'd bet on.
Trump has acknowledged he often breaks with the script.
"You know, when you go up here, you take a big chance, especially me because I go off teleprompter about 80% of the time," Trump said in January during a speech investigators believe Perez bet on.
Kalshi flagged the trades to the commission, and Perez is now in settlement talks that would have him return the profits and stop making similar bets, the sources said. He acknowledged some of the trades to regulators, though Manhattan federal prosecutors declined to open a criminal case.
Perez still operates Trump's teleprompter.
"The White House has strict ethics guidelines that we expect all staffers and officials to follow," a spokesperson said. "The staffer in question is fully cooperating with the CFTC."
The report comes as Trump's Department of Justice investigates disgraced former Republican Rep. George Santos of New York for insider trading on Kalshi.
