The White House has suspended one of the operators of US President Donald Trump’s teleprompters over allegations he placed bets with a prediction market on the content of the president’s speeches.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the teleprompter operator was put on unpaid administrative leave on the orders of the president.
Mr Trump “believes it’s deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace,” Ms Leavitt said of the technician’s alleged actions.
“There are very strict ethical guidelines here at the White House that explicitly state not to do this,”
she said.
According to ABC News, Gabriel Perez allegedly made more than $US100,000 ($142,000) by betting on the prediction market Kalshi on specific words or phrases that would appear in the president’s speeches.
Kalshi alerted the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to what was seen as suspicious activity and Mr Perez, who has been operating Mr Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is currently in settlement talks with the market regulator, ABC News said.
Ms Leavitt’s revelations came ahead of the US president’s address to the nation, scheduled for Thursday evening US time.
The speech would focus on the “integrity” of US elections, Ms Leavitt said, adding that she encouraged “every American to tune in”.
AFP
