White House teleprompter operator on unpaid leave after alleged bets on Trump speeches
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President Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the prediction market Kalshi flagged suspicious trades on Trump’s speeches, the White House confirmed Thursday.
© AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File
Shortly before Thursday’s White House press briefing, ABC News reported that Gabriel Perez, who was first hired by Trump in 2016, is in settlement talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegations that he used inside knowledge about the president’s remarks to place wagers on Kalshi.
“The individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC and has been placed on administrative leave,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporter.
Leavitt said Trump had been made aware of the situation, adding that another teleprompter operator will handle Trump’s primetime address to the nation later Thursday.
“He believes it is deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace,” she said.
It comes as prediction markets face intense scrutiny over insider trading, including by government and military officials.
“There are very strict ethical guidelines that explicitly state not to do this,” she added. “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.”
A source familiar confirmed to The Hill earlier Thursday that Perez is cooperating with the CFTC, which oversees prediction markets.
Kalshi said its surveillance, as well as some market makers, flagged trades in mention markets related to public statements by Trump that didn’t follow the normal pattern of buying and selling.
Mention markets allow users to place wagers on whether someone will say a particular word or phrase. The markets in this case involved common words, such as country names, economic words, general political topics, campaign phrases and social issues, according to Kalshi.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Julia Shapero a Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.
How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:
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The public-private partnership comes as part of the administration’s push to expand AI resources for scientific research. President Trump signed an order establishing the mission last November.
The Department of Energy launched the consortium in February and currently counts Amazon Web Services, IBM and Microsoft among its members
“Joining the Genesis Mission Consortium marks the next chapter in our work with the Department of Energy,” a Scale AI spokesperson said in a statement.
News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
Senate passes resolution saying Bankman-Fried shouldn’t receive pardon
© Mary Altaffer, Associated Press file
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday declaring that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should not receive a pardon.
Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison on fraud charges tied to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, officially requested a pardon from the Trump administration in early June.
The resolution, which cleared the upper chamber via unanimous consent, marks a notable rebuke of the disgraced crypto executive. It was put forward by a bipartisan duo involved in negotiations on a crypto regulation bill, Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
“It should not be considered controversial to say that someone like Sam Bankman-Fried — a fraudster who was convicted by a unanimous jury — should not be allowed to walk away scot-free,” Gallego said in a statement.
“That’s exactly what the Senate affirmed when they passed my resolution,” he continued. “Bankman-Fried stole billions from hardworking Americans. He’s a criminal who deserves to stay locked up.”
The FTX founder was considered one of the industry’s central players before his exchange collapsed in late 2022. He was later found guilty on various fraud and conspiracy charges for illegally using customer funds to bankroll his own lifestyle.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.
Branch out with other reads on The Hill:
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You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · NPR ↗ · Axios ↗ · The Hill ↗
{beacon} Technology Technology Your feedback matters to us. Take our brief newsletter survey to help us improve the newsletters you read every day. The Big Story White House…
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The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Technology newsletter
Your feedback matters to us.
President Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the prediction market Kalshi flagged suspicious trades on Trump’s speeches, the White House confirmed Thursday.
© AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File
Shortly before Thursday’s White House press briefing, ABC News reported that Gabriel Perez, who was first hired by Trump in 2016, is in settlement talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegations that he used inside knowledge about the president’s remarks to place wagers on Kalshi.
“The individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC and has been placed on administrative leave,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporter.
Leavitt said Trump had been made aware of the situation, adding that another teleprompter operator will handle Trump’s primetime address to the nation later Thursday.
“He believes it is deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace,” she said.
It comes as prediction markets face intense scrutiny over insider trading, including by government and military officials.
“There are very strict ethical guidelines that explicitly state not to do this,” she added. “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.”
A source familiar confirmed to The Hill earlier Thursday that Perez is cooperating with the CFTC, which oversees prediction markets.
Kalshi said its surveillance, as well as some market makers, flagged trades in mention markets related to public statements by Trump that didn’t follow the normal pattern of buying and selling.
Mention markets allow users to place wagers on whether someone will say a particular word or phrase. The markets in this case involved common words, such as country names, economic words, general political topics, campaign phrases and social issues, according to Kalshi.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Julia Shapero a Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.
How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:
Tesla driver in fatal Texas crash overrode driver assistance system: NTSB
A Tesla driver in a fatal Texas crash overrode the car’s driver assistance system, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Wednesday. The NTSB said in its preliminary findings that in mid-June, a 2025 Tesla Model 3 driven by a 44-year-old in Katy, Texas, left the road, went onto a driveway and hit a residence. At the time of the crash, the car was in “Full Self Driving” (FSD) mode, according to the NTSB. The car’s …
Anthropic CEO gave $1M to AI safety super PAC
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei gave $1 million to Public First, a super PAC backing candidates who support stronger guardrails on AI, according to a campaign finance filing Wednesday. He was joined by several other Anthropic employees, who gave a combined $2.15 million over the last quarter, the filing showed. A Google DeepMind engineer and an OpenAI staff member rounded out the contributions to the super PAC from the last three …
OpenAI employees pour nearly $250K into AI safety PAC, pushing back on firm’s president
A group of current and former OpenAI employees poured more than $245,000 into a super PAC focused on countering Leading the Future (LTF), a committee funded in part by the AI firm’s co-founder and President Greg Brockman. The AI safety super PAC, Guardrails Alliance, announced Wednesday it received eight contributions totaling $248,000. Three of the donations were reflected in the group’s Federal Election Commission …
Musk’s xAI sues man accused of using Grok to create explicit material
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI is suing a South Carolina man, accusing him of using its generative chatbot Grok to create child sexual abuse material. The suit, filed in a federal court Tuesday in Texas, alleges Terry Wayne Harwood had at least two Grok accounts using false identities to create and distribute explicit material. Harwood allegedly uploaded nonsexual images of multiple adults and minors and …
Scale AI joins Genesis Mission consortium
Scale AI announced Thursday that it is joining the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission consortium, after previously signing a memorandum of understanding to support the effort.
The public-private partnership comes as part of the administration’s push to expand AI resources for scientific research. President Trump signed an order establishing the mission last November.
The Department of Energy launched the consortium in February and currently counts Amazon Web Services, IBM and Microsoft among its members
“Joining the Genesis Mission Consortium marks the next chapter in our work with the Department of Energy,” a Scale AI spokesperson said in a statement.
News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
Senate passes resolution saying Bankman-Fried shouldn’t receive pardon
© Mary Altaffer, Associated Press file
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday declaring that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should not receive a pardon.
Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison on fraud charges tied to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, officially requested a pardon from the Trump administration in early June.
The resolution, which cleared the upper chamber via unanimous consent, marks a notable rebuke of the disgraced crypto executive. It was put forward by a bipartisan duo involved in negotiations on a crypto regulation bill, Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
“It should not be considered controversial to say that someone like Sam Bankman-Fried — a fraudster who was convicted by a unanimous jury — should not be allowed to walk away scot-free,” Gallego said in a statement.
“That’s exactly what the Senate affirmed when they passed my resolution,” he continued. “Bankman-Fried stole billions from hardworking Americans. He’s a criminal who deserves to stay locked up.”
The FTX founder was considered one of the industry’s central players before his exchange collapsed in late 2022. He was later found guilty on various fraud and conspiracy charges for illegally using customer funds to bankroll his own lifestyle.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.
Branch out with other reads on The Hill:
Uber eyes Delivery Hero in $15B acquisition bid
Uber agreed Thursday to a nearly $15 billion bid to acquire the German-based Delivery Hero, which will create the largest food-delivery group outside of China. The transaction will double the number of markets where Uber offers mobility and delivery services, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a company statement. It will also create a “denser combined network” for couriers and drivers that will “drive higher …
You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · NPR ↗ · Axios ↗ · The Hill ↗
Close
The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Technology newsletter
Your feedback matters to us.
President Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the prediction market Kalshi flagged suspicious trades on Trump’s speeches, the White House confirmed Thursday.
© AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File
Shortly before Thursday’s White House press briefing, ABC News reported that Gabriel Perez, who was first hired by Trump in 2016, is in settlement talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegations that he used inside knowledge about the president’s remarks to place wagers on Kalshi.
“The individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC and has been placed on administrative leave,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporter.
Leavitt said Trump had been made aware of the situation, adding that another teleprompter operator will handle Trump’s primetime address to the nation later Thursday.
“He believes it is deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace,” she said.
It comes as prediction markets face intense scrutiny over insider trading, including by government and military officials.
“There are very strict ethical guidelines that explicitly state not to do this,” she added. “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.”
A source familiar confirmed to The Hill earlier Thursday that Perez is cooperating with the CFTC, which oversees prediction markets.
Kalshi said its surveillance, as well as some market makers, flagged trades in mention markets related to public statements by Trump that didn’t follow the normal pattern of buying and selling.
Mention markets allow users to place wagers on whether someone will say a particular word or phrase. The markets in this case involved common words, such as country names, economic words, general political topics, campaign phrases and social issues, according to Kalshi.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Julia Shapero a Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.
How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:
Tesla driver in fatal Texas crash overrode driver assistance system: NTSB
A Tesla driver in a fatal Texas crash overrode the car’s driver assistance system, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Wednesday. The NTSB said in its preliminary findings that in mid-June, a 2025 Tesla Model 3 driven by a 44-year-old in Katy, Texas, left the road, went onto a driveway and hit a residence. At the time of the crash, the car was in “Full Self Driving” (FSD) mode, according to the NTSB. The car’s …
Anthropic CEO gave $1M to AI safety super PAC
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei gave $1 million to Public First, a super PAC backing candidates who support stronger guardrails on AI, according to a campaign finance filing Wednesday. He was joined by several other Anthropic employees, who gave a combined $2.15 million over the last quarter, the filing showed. A Google DeepMind engineer and an OpenAI staff member rounded out the contributions to the super PAC from the last three …
OpenAI employees pour nearly $250K into AI safety PAC, pushing back on firm’s president
A group of current and former OpenAI employees poured more than $245,000 into a super PAC focused on countering Leading the Future (LTF), a committee funded in part by the AI firm’s co-founder and President Greg Brockman. The AI safety super PAC, Guardrails Alliance, announced Wednesday it received eight contributions totaling $248,000. Three of the donations were reflected in the group’s Federal Election Commission …
Musk’s xAI sues man accused of using Grok to create explicit material
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI is suing a South Carolina man, accusing him of using its generative chatbot Grok to create child sexual abuse material. The suit, filed in a federal court Tuesday in Texas, alleges Terry Wayne Harwood had at least two Grok accounts using false identities to create and distribute explicit material. Harwood allegedly uploaded nonsexual images of multiple adults and minors and …
Scale AI joins Genesis Mission consortium
Scale AI announced Thursday that it is joining the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission consortium, after previously signing a memorandum of understanding to support the effort.
The public-private partnership comes as part of the administration’s push to expand AI resources for scientific research. President Trump signed an order establishing the mission last November.
The Department of Energy launched the consortium in February and currently counts Amazon Web Services, IBM and Microsoft among its members
“Joining the Genesis Mission Consortium marks the next chapter in our work with the Department of Energy,” a Scale AI spokesperson said in a statement.
News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
Senate passes resolution saying Bankman-Fried shouldn’t receive pardon
© Mary Altaffer, Associated Press file
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday declaring that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should not receive a pardon.
Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison on fraud charges tied to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, officially requested a pardon from the Trump administration in early June.
The resolution, which cleared the upper chamber via unanimous consent, marks a notable rebuke of the disgraced crypto executive. It was put forward by a bipartisan duo involved in negotiations on a crypto regulation bill, Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
“It should not be considered controversial to say that someone like Sam Bankman-Fried — a fraudster who was convicted by a unanimous jury — should not be allowed to walk away scot-free,” Gallego said in a statement.
“That’s exactly what the Senate affirmed when they passed my resolution,” he continued. “Bankman-Fried stole billions from hardworking Americans. He’s a criminal who deserves to stay locked up.”
The FTX founder was considered one of the industry’s central players before his exchange collapsed in late 2022. He was later found guilty on various fraud and conspiracy charges for illegally using customer funds to bankroll his own lifestyle.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.
Branch out with other reads on The Hill:
Uber eyes Delivery Hero in $15B acquisition bid
Uber agreed Thursday to a nearly $15 billion bid to acquire the German-based Delivery Hero, which will create the largest food-delivery group outside of China. The transaction will double the number of markets where Uber offers mobility and delivery services, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a company statement. It will also create a “denser combined network” for couriers and drivers that will “drive higher …
You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · NPR ↗ · Axios ↗ · The Hill ↗
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
- {beacon} Technology Technology Your feedback matters to us.
- Take our brief newsletter survey to help us improve the newsletters you read every day.
- The Big Story White House…