July 17, 2026
Why Trump’s Teleprompter Operator Is Under Federal Investigation, And Out of A Job
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RSS Feed The man who has been entrusted with rolling the teleprompter for President Trump’s speeches for the past decade, is now on paid administrative leave, as authorities investigate several bets he made on prediction markets. Gabriel Perez is accused of making bets on specific words showing up in the President’s speeches, winning as much as $100,000 from Kalshi. The prediction market claims he even withdrew certain bets he made if Trump skipped over lines in his speeches! Trump calling the situation “deeply unfortunate and frankly, a disgrace.”
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks. It is Friday, July seventeenth, and President Trump has just lost one of his most invaluable employees. No, it's not a cabinet member, it's not as chief as staff, it's his teleprompter operator. But it seems the teleprompt operator is leaving the administration with more money than he came in with. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy A. TJ. This is the bizarre story roads the teleprompter operator losing his job because he used access to the president to make money.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: Well, how much are teleprompter operators even paid these days? Pretty well, pretty well, I would think, especially if you're the teleprompter operator to the President of the United States.
00:00:45
Speaker 1: Well, with that caveat, yes they are paid. Well. I was thinking about back in the day when we were in local news, telet operators didn't get a whole lot.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: Actually, I remember back in the day, did you ever have to do this where you ran your own teleprompter using a foot pedal.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: I didn't have to, but I'm very aware I did.
00:01:02
Speaker 2: And I actually used to run prompter sometimes up in the booth for the anchors when I was a CUB reporter. They needed all hands on decks. So yes, I actually have done a full newscast operating the prompter for the anchors, and it is unbelievably stressful.
00:01:19
Speaker 1: You know what, You just remind me of something. I had the option. What did I do?
00:01:24
Speaker 2: You chose not to have, chose not to do the process. You are not a prompter guy.
00:01:28
Speaker 1: I think it was a hand thing. It was the it was sitting up on the desk, you could control the call.
00:01:32
Speaker 2: I had a foot pedal.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, Well, we was talking about why the hell are we going down teleprompter memory lane? Because the teleprompter operator, the most famous teleprompter operator may be in history right now is a guy by the name uh Perez, Gabriel Perez. Now, this guy is out of a job, Robes because he is now being accused of using his access to the president to make one hundred thousand dollars on these Kalshi and Holly market, these prediction markets. How did he do this? He placed his bets on what the president would say in his speech, and Robes, if you're the teleprompt operator, it's pretty good chance you know exactly what's going to be in that speech.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: I am blown away. First of all, about what you can bet on these days, and second of all, the fact that someone would be stupid enough to think that they wouldn't get caught making money off of information that would be exclusive to them.
00:02:32
Speaker 1: It's what he did. This guy, we don't hear his name, We don't know anything about him before now robes, he has extraordinary access, had extraordinary access.
00:02:41
Speaker 2: Yes, that's the right tense of that. Per Not a.
00:02:43
Speaker 1: Lot of people think about that room. Not a lot of people see President Trump's speech before he makes it very close inner circle. And this guy, because he's in there practicing with the president running the speech. This is the guy who sometimes would make last minute changes to the speech if the President directly told him to. This dude had extraordinary access, Robes, and it looks like he just blew it. He just blew his access because he got greedy.
00:03:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, he got greedy. Isn't that what is I mean? That's the downfall of most people. It's greed. People want more. You said he was well paid, Well, he obviously didn't think he was being paid enough.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: Robes one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars a year to run the teleprompter sounds like a decent gig.
00:03:26
Speaker 2: Isn't that more than most senators make?
00:03:28
Speaker 1: What is their salary?
00:03:29
Speaker 2: Now it changes, but it's around the same. I mean, if you think about it from that perspective, and that's certainly more money than the vast majority of Americans make. So yeah, that's a damn good job. And he held it since twenty sixteen.
00:03:42
Speaker 1: He's rose, he's been with him now. This is why he is still a critical member of this administration. Robes. We've done this job, We've had people do this job for us.
00:03:53
Speaker 2: It don't last long.
00:03:55
Speaker 1: How important and stressful is it to run a teleprompter?
00:04:00
Speaker 2: And just I know having done it myself, and then you and I have both. I know you're not a big prompter guy, but I love the prompter. And when you don't have a prompter operator who as who is as skilled as you would like them to be, it can literally destroy a newscast. It certainly can up end a speech if the prompter goes too fast, if it goes too slow, if it stops, if it just if it gets stuck. It is it is incredibly difficult to remain smooth, polished, and to continue on. So yes, I have always made sure that I was kind to the prompter operator. If you piss off a prompter operator, they can seek revenge and say it was a glitch. You could never prove that they did it on purpose. That is somebody who you always want to stay in good graces with because they literally have your performance in their hands.
00:04:51
Speaker 1: So Robes, with all you just explained about your experience of how stressful the teleprompter is, who could you imagine the most stressful person to run a teleprompter for?
00:05:05
Speaker 2: Without a doubt, President Donald J. Trump.
00:05:08
Speaker 1: He's all over the place. He's all over the place in his speeches. We know it. And when you watch him, everybody, I don't even have to say the folks pay close attention. You know when he's going off the cuff. You know when he's going away from his prepared remarks. So every time he does that, the teleprompter operator has to make a decision. Do I stop here? Do I roll back to where he wants to be? Do I roll forward? How fast does he need me to go? Is it time to roll ahead? Is he going to keep talking about this for a second? Does he want to go to the next thing? Robes, This guy is important because he has the president down pat when it comes.
00:05:42
Speaker 2: To this, and obviously he knows the president's speech patterns, he knows when he's about to go back on script, he knows when he's going off script, and it is a delicate dance that he has to interpret and almost like anticipate. That is a very difficult thing to do. And so obviously I'm just surprised, I said, how many prompter operators were like, never again, I'm sorry. You might be a wonderful person, but this is not the role for you. And we have gone through many, many, many because it is actually a very difficult job to do. And so to have a single prompter operator be with you for ten years, that speaks to his skill. And I would even say maybe the relationship he has with Trump and certainly with Trump's diction and how he operates, he knows this man through and through, and that's not something you can easily replace.
00:06:35
Speaker 1: And roh, you said about like some like this job isn't for you when you have a bad teleprompt operator and some of them don't want to do it robes and we've been in newsrooms where they would have to rotate and everybody's like I don't want the prompter because you do get a client, meaning an anchor or a politician who I don't know if I have seen people yell that worse than teleprompt operators by certain anchors get pissed.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: We were just watching yesterday. We showed it to Sabine. One of the most famous outbursts ever over a prompter issue, Bill O'Reilly will do It Live. I actually, if anyone listening to this, please did If you have never seen Bill O'Reilly was when he was the host of Inside Edition and he was so frustrated as they were taping the show by his prompter operator. He started calling him out, screaming, he loses it. He actually starts like letting out f bombs and expletives, kind of throws this paper down. It is the most hilarious public tantrum by an adult man ever witnessed. Please right now, I even say, paused the podcast. Go google Bill O'Reilly Inside Edition will do It Live.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: Yes, Andy will pop up automatically. You will see the video. The whole thing goes a little less than two minutes because you have to see the build up to what happens, and it's essentially him looking at the prompter. What he wants there is there, it's not rolling. He doesn't understand it, and he's trying to tape it so he can leave. But the clock is ticking to where they're going to have to do it live. They're going up against it. So it is incredible. This is not a not I'm not criticizing Bill o'right because he gave us comedy goals. This is unbelievable. And then the show ends with ropes and they're rolling the credits, but you can still see the studio and he's taking off his jacket, ripping and throwing stuff. It is awesome. So we say that to say tell the prompt operators get the shit they all time to do. They do.
00:08:33
Speaker 2: And so yes, And when I'm ever in a bad mood, I'm having a tough day, sometimes just pulling up the Bill O'Reilly clip will just change my mood instantaneously. It's referenced all the time when you're on the set, one of the poor directors or whatever, if you're having a problem and you're stumbling like, we'll do it live, and everyone just starts laughing. All the tensions released because we.
00:08:53
Speaker 3: All know what they're referring to. So that's what we're talking about the role we talk about. So this guys been working with the president. So what he's accused of is making one hundred thousand dollars. Now what was he placing bets on? He would bet. Yes, these prediction markets, you can bet on just about anything. But they have something cal she does called their mentions market, where you can essentially bet on things that are going to be mentioned in a speech, mentioned in a broadcast mentioned, and so you can bet on words robes who has the inside information on what word the president might use, like a country name, specific words he was betting on that.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: Wow, something that truly only this speech writer President Trump and maybe even just him the teleprompter operator would be aware of it.
00:09:38
Speaker 1: So if cal She sees that some guy just made one hundred grand on betting on presidents saying this and that, how would he be nailing it every time? Because that it's a small group of people. If this isn't Trump betting, if this is the chief of staff betting, if that is his administration, it was fairly easy, they say, to track down who this guy was. They said he did this on at least a speeches Robes State of the Union a December primetime a dress. I can't remember what that one was about. He was at the World Economic Forum in Dobbels in January. Bet on that when they say and even his Medal of Honor ceremony remarks, but Robes the part that really, this is.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: My favorite part, cracked me up.
00:10:19
Speaker 1: He is a good teleprompt operator. He could he could manage rolling the teleprompter for the president live and still place bets.
00:10:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was actually betting in real time. He had to have been, because he withdrew Betts. This is crazy when Trump skipped over lines, so that had to actually have happened in real time for him to withdraw the bet because he knew, Oh, he didn't say that word, so my BET's there that he's going to say that word. He didn't say it, so I got to withdraw my bet. He was multitasking.
00:10:46
Speaker 1: I would love to have seen that. To think of somebody rolling a prompter at the State of the Union and in your left hand you got your phone betting on Calshi. This is it's remarkable that he thought he was going to get away with this. Carolyn Levitt was this her first one? Yesterday.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: It might be because it's the first time I've heard her name since she gave birth.
00:11:04
Speaker 1: It's her first one. She had her first press conference or a press briefing yesterday since having a baby. Congrat it's good to see her back. You know, it is good to see her back. I'm happy she really had.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: Press conferences are fairly entertaining.
00:11:17
Speaker 1: But you know the other part of that robes I do. And this is not politics. This is a high stress job. She's a very young woman and she is doing it. She went and had a baby, took her time, and then came back and just I don't know, there is something just I appreciate and powerful about the example. I guess that is. I know people got a problem with politics and who she works for, but.
00:11:37
Speaker 2: Just to see a woman sometimes what she says or doesn't say. But I do give her props. She's young. She's young, and for her to be able to hold her own, no, I think she's still in her life. She might be twenty eight, twenty nine. It is impressive that someone that young can hold her own with some of the toughest investigative journalists out there.
00:11:54
Speaker 1: Good just dont to give her props good to have her back. She's back. But this is what she said yesterday, robes and con and it sounds like the president who's not necessarily just dismissive of this. He sounded a little pissed. She talked about his comments, but she gave hers as well.
00:12:07
Speaker 2: Yes, she said, the individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC, which is the Commodity futurest Trading Commission, but has been put on paid administrative leave. There will be a teleprompter operator tonight, of course, but it will not be the one, unfortunately in that story.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: She said.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, So obviously there was some sadness probably and some major disappointment I would imagine from President Trump to hear this news. And yes, speaking of that, she added that Trump briefed was briefed about it and said he finds it quote deeply unfortunately, unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.
00:12:46
Speaker 1: That's too bad though this, I mean, I'm sure he does. A guy he's been with for ten years.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: That's so it almost feels like a betrayal. It is a betrayal to make money off of information that you should have held in a sacred way.
00:13:00
Speaker 1: Okay, you're right. I'm sorry, you're right. It's not like he you know what, I don't know?
00:13:05
Speaker 2: It just feels untrustworthy. You would never trust that person again with any information if they were going to use it to their own benefit and literally break the law doing so. You know now who that person is and what their ethics are.
00:13:16
Speaker 1: Why do we what happens? What is going on with us in society that a guy who had the privilege of having such wonderful access, what a story, a book he could write later, what an incredible You're right, like, you don't understand the value and the privilege you have so much that you're willing to just do that. And again, I don't know what his background, his situation might be, rose he might have been desperate for money in some way I don't know. Doesn't excuse it, but at least could give some context, because right now doesn't make us make any sense.
00:13:49
Speaker 2: Probably just plain old fashioned greed.
00:13:53
Speaker 1: Well, this ain't the only one we have seen. Stay here, folks, we will remind you of some pretty astonishing examples of other folks trying to get away with this.
00:14:11
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We've been talking about the teleprompter operator for President Trump. Ten years in that job and highly paid one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars a year, but he plays bets, making one hundred grand on the words Trump was going to use or say in his speeches. Pretty easy to get caught, and now he is out of a job and he is facing some potential charges. Here.
00:14:37
Speaker 1: Did you did you see anywhere the words listed? I couldn't know.
00:14:41
Speaker 2: That would have been good, though I would have liked, yeah, we should, we should try to find out what they were, because they obviously I would think had to have been unique for him. Or can you just pick any word I.
00:14:51
Speaker 1: Said, country name, like our country names and whatnot that was specific, whereas it wouldn't be like he's going to use the word tomorrow or hot.
00:14:58
Speaker 2: I would use the phrase America is hot. I would bet on that, because he says that in almost every speech.
00:15:03
Speaker 1: Okay, but you wouldn't be able to bet just as he's gonna say it or not. You'd have to bet how many times that's hilarious. You know he's gonna say it.
00:15:10
Speaker 2: Of course that's a given, so that's obvious. But look, what's also crazy to me about this story is there have been several recent, high profile examples of people getting caught who had inside information as it pertains to actually this administration. And I would think if you saw those items making headlines, and you saw that other people were being investigated who had privileged information, you might take the foot off the gag. But he didn't. And look, these cases are just within the last few months.
00:15:47
Speaker 1: And highly publicized, and they were even robes connected to very highly publicized events. Yes, like the Venezuela raid.
00:15:59
Speaker 2: Correct. I remember the Special Forces soldier who made four hundred thousand dollars betting on when and if we were actually going in to get Maduro out of Venezuela. Well, the reason why he knew because he was a part of the extraction team.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: You know what. At least he got four hunder kay go big of go home.
00:16:16
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but he has to give it all back and now he's facing criminal charges. So I don't think it was worth it.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: He should have gone for more. If you're going to do if you're going to risk it, risk it. The other guy did risk it. Google guy that was a million bucks, but he had inside information about what were the most popular searches and things that were going to pop up, So he was betting in the prediction markets about that million bucks.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: Come on, dude. And then, of course George sent an under investigation because he placed a bet on whether or not he was going to attend the State of the Union address, something that he and only he would know, and he tried to like play it off as if, oh, look at me, accidentally missed the State of the Union address. Here, I'm at an airport lounge or something, and I was supposed who knew? I thought I was gonna be at the State of the Union. Meantime, he had placed a bet that he wasn't going to be at the State of the Union after he had already put on social media that he was going to be there, So he made the odds higher so that he would get more money when he didn't show.
00:17:16
Speaker 1: Up, and he screwed a lot of people out of money on that. And that's why you cannot have this happen. You just simply cannot cal sheep Paudy market. They are doing better robes about flagging. He's saying, I am surprised they're catching as many as they do. Some are probably getting through. But this is a real this is becoming obviously a really really big problem. And we're talking about big, high profile cases or how many smaller ones out there? That was the one. Several politicians were caught. They were betting on whether or not they get into the race. He was a smaller right, whether they were gonna run.
00:17:48
Speaker 2: This is hello. If you are betting on something that only you know the outcome of, you're gonna get caught.
00:17:56
Speaker 1: That would be us betting on our wedding location.
00:18:00
Speaker 2: Or the day we're getting married. We'll just bet on it and maybe no one will know that we just made money on it. You're gonna get found out, maybe not the first time, but eventually, because you're gonna stay greedy and you're gonna keep doing it, and eventually you're going to get caught.
00:18:14
Speaker 1: This is incredible. All right, Well, you're looking for a gig. There is an opening for teleprompter operator at the White House. And with that, we always appreciate your spending a little time with us. I'm tj On behalf of my dear Amy Robot. We will talk to y'all soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks. It is Friday, July seventeenth, and President Trump has just lost one of his most invaluable employees. No, it's not a cabinet member, it's not as chief as staff, it's his teleprompter operator. But it seems the teleprompt operator is leaving the administration with more money than he came in with. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy A. TJ. This is the bizarre story roads the teleprompter operator losing his job because he used access to the president to make money.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: Well, how much are teleprompter operators even paid these days? Pretty well, pretty well, I would think, especially if you're the teleprompter operator to the President of the United States.
00:00:45
Speaker 1: Well, with that caveat, yes they are paid. Well. I was thinking about back in the day when we were in local news, telet operators didn't get a whole lot.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: Actually, I remember back in the day, did you ever have to do this where you ran your own teleprompter using a foot pedal.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: I didn't have to, but I'm very aware I did.
00:01:02
Speaker 2: And I actually used to run prompter sometimes up in the booth for the anchors when I was a CUB reporter. They needed all hands on decks. So yes, I actually have done a full newscast operating the prompter for the anchors, and it is unbelievably stressful.
00:01:19
Speaker 1: You know what, You just remind me of something. I had the option. What did I do?
00:01:24
Speaker 2: You chose not to have, chose not to do the process. You are not a prompter guy.
00:01:28
Speaker 1: I think it was a hand thing. It was the it was sitting up on the desk, you could control the call.
00:01:32
Speaker 2: I had a foot pedal.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, Well, we was talking about why the hell are we going down teleprompter memory lane? Because the teleprompter operator, the most famous teleprompter operator may be in history right now is a guy by the name uh Perez, Gabriel Perez. Now, this guy is out of a job, Robes because he is now being accused of using his access to the president to make one hundred thousand dollars on these Kalshi and Holly market, these prediction markets. How did he do this? He placed his bets on what the president would say in his speech, and Robes, if you're the teleprompt operator, it's pretty good chance you know exactly what's going to be in that speech.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: I am blown away. First of all, about what you can bet on these days, and second of all, the fact that someone would be stupid enough to think that they wouldn't get caught making money off of information that would be exclusive to them.
00:02:32
Speaker 1: It's what he did. This guy, we don't hear his name, We don't know anything about him before now robes, he has extraordinary access, had extraordinary access.
00:02:41
Speaker 2: Yes, that's the right tense of that. Per Not a.
00:02:43
Speaker 1: Lot of people think about that room. Not a lot of people see President Trump's speech before he makes it very close inner circle. And this guy, because he's in there practicing with the president running the speech. This is the guy who sometimes would make last minute changes to the speech if the President directly told him to. This dude had extraordinary access, Robes, and it looks like he just blew it. He just blew his access because he got greedy.
00:03:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, he got greedy. Isn't that what is I mean? That's the downfall of most people. It's greed. People want more. You said he was well paid, Well, he obviously didn't think he was being paid enough.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: Robes one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars a year to run the teleprompter sounds like a decent gig.
00:03:26
Speaker 2: Isn't that more than most senators make?
00:03:28
Speaker 1: What is their salary?
00:03:29
Speaker 2: Now it changes, but it's around the same. I mean, if you think about it from that perspective, and that's certainly more money than the vast majority of Americans make. So yeah, that's a damn good job. And he held it since twenty sixteen.
00:03:42
Speaker 1: He's rose, he's been with him now. This is why he is still a critical member of this administration. Robes. We've done this job, We've had people do this job for us.
00:03:53
Speaker 2: It don't last long.
00:03:55
Speaker 1: How important and stressful is it to run a teleprompter?
00:04:00
Speaker 2: And just I know having done it myself, and then you and I have both. I know you're not a big prompter guy, but I love the prompter. And when you don't have a prompter operator who as who is as skilled as you would like them to be, it can literally destroy a newscast. It certainly can up end a speech if the prompter goes too fast, if it goes too slow, if it stops, if it just if it gets stuck. It is it is incredibly difficult to remain smooth, polished, and to continue on. So yes, I have always made sure that I was kind to the prompter operator. If you piss off a prompter operator, they can seek revenge and say it was a glitch. You could never prove that they did it on purpose. That is somebody who you always want to stay in good graces with because they literally have your performance in their hands.
00:04:51
Speaker 1: So Robes, with all you just explained about your experience of how stressful the teleprompter is, who could you imagine the most stressful person to run a teleprompter for?
00:05:05
Speaker 2: Without a doubt, President Donald J. Trump.
00:05:08
Speaker 1: He's all over the place. He's all over the place in his speeches. We know it. And when you watch him, everybody, I don't even have to say the folks pay close attention. You know when he's going off the cuff. You know when he's going away from his prepared remarks. So every time he does that, the teleprompter operator has to make a decision. Do I stop here? Do I roll back to where he wants to be? Do I roll forward? How fast does he need me to go? Is it time to roll ahead? Is he going to keep talking about this for a second? Does he want to go to the next thing? Robes, This guy is important because he has the president down pat when it comes.
00:05:42
Speaker 2: To this, and obviously he knows the president's speech patterns, he knows when he's about to go back on script, he knows when he's going off script, and it is a delicate dance that he has to interpret and almost like anticipate. That is a very difficult thing to do. And so obviously I'm just surprised, I said, how many prompter operators were like, never again, I'm sorry. You might be a wonderful person, but this is not the role for you. And we have gone through many, many, many because it is actually a very difficult job to do. And so to have a single prompter operator be with you for ten years, that speaks to his skill. And I would even say maybe the relationship he has with Trump and certainly with Trump's diction and how he operates, he knows this man through and through, and that's not something you can easily replace.
00:06:35
Speaker 1: And roh, you said about like some like this job isn't for you when you have a bad teleprompt operator and some of them don't want to do it robes and we've been in newsrooms where they would have to rotate and everybody's like I don't want the prompter because you do get a client, meaning an anchor or a politician who I don't know if I have seen people yell that worse than teleprompt operators by certain anchors get pissed.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: We were just watching yesterday. We showed it to Sabine. One of the most famous outbursts ever over a prompter issue, Bill O'Reilly will do It Live. I actually, if anyone listening to this, please did If you have never seen Bill O'Reilly was when he was the host of Inside Edition and he was so frustrated as they were taping the show by his prompter operator. He started calling him out, screaming, he loses it. He actually starts like letting out f bombs and expletives, kind of throws this paper down. It is the most hilarious public tantrum by an adult man ever witnessed. Please right now, I even say, paused the podcast. Go google Bill O'Reilly Inside Edition will do It Live.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: Yes, Andy will pop up automatically. You will see the video. The whole thing goes a little less than two minutes because you have to see the build up to what happens, and it's essentially him looking at the prompter. What he wants there is there, it's not rolling. He doesn't understand it, and he's trying to tape it so he can leave. But the clock is ticking to where they're going to have to do it live. They're going up against it. So it is incredible. This is not a not I'm not criticizing Bill o'right because he gave us comedy goals. This is unbelievable. And then the show ends with ropes and they're rolling the credits, but you can still see the studio and he's taking off his jacket, ripping and throwing stuff. It is awesome. So we say that to say tell the prompt operators get the shit they all time to do. They do.
00:08:33
Speaker 2: And so yes, And when I'm ever in a bad mood, I'm having a tough day, sometimes just pulling up the Bill O'Reilly clip will just change my mood instantaneously. It's referenced all the time when you're on the set, one of the poor directors or whatever, if you're having a problem and you're stumbling like, we'll do it live, and everyone just starts laughing. All the tensions released because we.
00:08:53
Speaker 3: All know what they're referring to. So that's what we're talking about the role we talk about. So this guys been working with the president. So what he's accused of is making one hundred thousand dollars. Now what was he placing bets on? He would bet. Yes, these prediction markets, you can bet on just about anything. But they have something cal she does called their mentions market, where you can essentially bet on things that are going to be mentioned in a speech, mentioned in a broadcast mentioned, and so you can bet on words robes who has the inside information on what word the president might use, like a country name, specific words he was betting on that.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: Wow, something that truly only this speech writer President Trump and maybe even just him the teleprompter operator would be aware of it.
00:09:38
Speaker 1: So if cal She sees that some guy just made one hundred grand on betting on presidents saying this and that, how would he be nailing it every time? Because that it's a small group of people. If this isn't Trump betting, if this is the chief of staff betting, if that is his administration, it was fairly easy, they say, to track down who this guy was. They said he did this on at least a speeches Robes State of the Union a December primetime a dress. I can't remember what that one was about. He was at the World Economic Forum in Dobbels in January. Bet on that when they say and even his Medal of Honor ceremony remarks, but Robes the part that really, this is.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: My favorite part, cracked me up.
00:10:19
Speaker 1: He is a good teleprompt operator. He could he could manage rolling the teleprompter for the president live and still place bets.
00:10:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was actually betting in real time. He had to have been, because he withdrew Betts. This is crazy when Trump skipped over lines, so that had to actually have happened in real time for him to withdraw the bet because he knew, Oh, he didn't say that word, so my BET's there that he's going to say that word. He didn't say it, so I got to withdraw my bet. He was multitasking.
00:10:46
Speaker 1: I would love to have seen that. To think of somebody rolling a prompter at the State of the Union and in your left hand you got your phone betting on Calshi. This is it's remarkable that he thought he was going to get away with this. Carolyn Levitt was this her first one? Yesterday.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: It might be because it's the first time I've heard her name since she gave birth.
00:11:04
Speaker 1: It's her first one. She had her first press conference or a press briefing yesterday since having a baby. Congrat it's good to see her back. You know, it is good to see her back. I'm happy she really had.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: Press conferences are fairly entertaining.
00:11:17
Speaker 1: But you know the other part of that robes I do. And this is not politics. This is a high stress job. She's a very young woman and she is doing it. She went and had a baby, took her time, and then came back and just I don't know, there is something just I appreciate and powerful about the example. I guess that is. I know people got a problem with politics and who she works for, but.
00:11:37
Speaker 2: Just to see a woman sometimes what she says or doesn't say. But I do give her props. She's young. She's young, and for her to be able to hold her own, no, I think she's still in her life. She might be twenty eight, twenty nine. It is impressive that someone that young can hold her own with some of the toughest investigative journalists out there.
00:11:54
Speaker 1: Good just dont to give her props good to have her back. She's back. But this is what she said yesterday, robes and con and it sounds like the president who's not necessarily just dismissive of this. He sounded a little pissed. She talked about his comments, but she gave hers as well.
00:12:07
Speaker 2: Yes, she said, the individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC, which is the Commodity futurest Trading Commission, but has been put on paid administrative leave. There will be a teleprompter operator tonight, of course, but it will not be the one, unfortunately in that story.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: She said.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, So obviously there was some sadness probably and some major disappointment I would imagine from President Trump to hear this news. And yes, speaking of that, she added that Trump briefed was briefed about it and said he finds it quote deeply unfortunately, unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.
00:12:46
Speaker 1: That's too bad though this, I mean, I'm sure he does. A guy he's been with for ten years.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: That's so it almost feels like a betrayal. It is a betrayal to make money off of information that you should have held in a sacred way.
00:13:00
Speaker 1: Okay, you're right. I'm sorry, you're right. It's not like he you know what, I don't know?
00:13:05
Speaker 2: It just feels untrustworthy. You would never trust that person again with any information if they were going to use it to their own benefit and literally break the law doing so. You know now who that person is and what their ethics are.
00:13:16
Speaker 1: Why do we what happens? What is going on with us in society that a guy who had the privilege of having such wonderful access, what a story, a book he could write later, what an incredible You're right, like, you don't understand the value and the privilege you have so much that you're willing to just do that. And again, I don't know what his background, his situation might be, rose he might have been desperate for money in some way I don't know. Doesn't excuse it, but at least could give some context, because right now doesn't make us make any sense.
00:13:49
Speaker 2: Probably just plain old fashioned greed.
00:13:53
Speaker 1: Well, this ain't the only one we have seen. Stay here, folks, we will remind you of some pretty astonishing examples of other folks trying to get away with this.
00:14:11
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We've been talking about the teleprompter operator for President Trump. Ten years in that job and highly paid one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars a year, but he plays bets, making one hundred grand on the words Trump was going to use or say in his speeches. Pretty easy to get caught, and now he is out of a job and he is facing some potential charges. Here.
00:14:37
Speaker 1: Did you did you see anywhere the words listed? I couldn't know.
00:14:41
Speaker 2: That would have been good, though I would have liked, yeah, we should, we should try to find out what they were, because they obviously I would think had to have been unique for him. Or can you just pick any word I.
00:14:51
Speaker 1: Said, country name, like our country names and whatnot that was specific, whereas it wouldn't be like he's going to use the word tomorrow or hot.
00:14:58
Speaker 2: I would use the phrase America is hot. I would bet on that, because he says that in almost every speech.
00:15:03
Speaker 1: Okay, but you wouldn't be able to bet just as he's gonna say it or not. You'd have to bet how many times that's hilarious. You know he's gonna say it.
00:15:10
Speaker 2: Of course that's a given, so that's obvious. But look, what's also crazy to me about this story is there have been several recent, high profile examples of people getting caught who had inside information as it pertains to actually this administration. And I would think if you saw those items making headlines, and you saw that other people were being investigated who had privileged information, you might take the foot off the gag. But he didn't. And look, these cases are just within the last few months.
00:15:47
Speaker 1: And highly publicized, and they were even robes connected to very highly publicized events. Yes, like the Venezuela raid.
00:15:59
Speaker 2: Correct. I remember the Special Forces soldier who made four hundred thousand dollars betting on when and if we were actually going in to get Maduro out of Venezuela. Well, the reason why he knew because he was a part of the extraction team.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: You know what. At least he got four hunder kay go big of go home.
00:16:16
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but he has to give it all back and now he's facing criminal charges. So I don't think it was worth it.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: He should have gone for more. If you're going to do if you're going to risk it, risk it. The other guy did risk it. Google guy that was a million bucks, but he had inside information about what were the most popular searches and things that were going to pop up, So he was betting in the prediction markets about that million bucks.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: Come on, dude. And then, of course George sent an under investigation because he placed a bet on whether or not he was going to attend the State of the Union address, something that he and only he would know, and he tried to like play it off as if, oh, look at me, accidentally missed the State of the Union address. Here, I'm at an airport lounge or something, and I was supposed who knew? I thought I was gonna be at the State of the Union. Meantime, he had placed a bet that he wasn't going to be at the State of the Union after he had already put on social media that he was going to be there, So he made the odds higher so that he would get more money when he didn't show.
00:17:16
Speaker 1: Up, and he screwed a lot of people out of money on that. And that's why you cannot have this happen. You just simply cannot cal sheep Paudy market. They are doing better robes about flagging. He's saying, I am surprised they're catching as many as they do. Some are probably getting through. But this is a real this is becoming obviously a really really big problem. And we're talking about big, high profile cases or how many smaller ones out there? That was the one. Several politicians were caught. They were betting on whether or not they get into the race. He was a smaller right, whether they were gonna run.
00:17:48
Speaker 2: This is hello. If you are betting on something that only you know the outcome of, you're gonna get caught.
00:17:56
Speaker 1: That would be us betting on our wedding location.
00:18:00
Speaker 2: Or the day we're getting married. We'll just bet on it and maybe no one will know that we just made money on it. You're gonna get found out, maybe not the first time, but eventually, because you're gonna stay greedy and you're gonna keep doing it, and eventually you're going to get caught.
00:18:14
Speaker 1: This is incredible. All right, Well, you're looking for a gig. There is an opening for teleprompter operator at the White House. And with that, we always appreciate your spending a little time with us. I'm tj On behalf of my dear Amy Robot. We will talk to y'all soon.