Kalshi Investigating Suspicious Bets on Trump’s New White House Press Secretary

Screenshot via The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Prediction market Kalshi is investigating a series of suspiciously well-timed bets that correctly anticipated President Donald Trump’s surprise choice of Katie Zacharia as his next White House press secretary, according to a Wall Street Journal exclusive.

Zacharia had been trading at roughly a 1% chance of landing the job in the days before her appointment and was not widely viewed as a leading contender. But the Journal found that one trader placed just $19 on Zacharia at around 10:43 p.m. ET on Thursday. Once the market settles, that bet is expected to return $1,896.

Two more wagers, worth roughly $74 and $80, were placed at around 1:41 p.m. Friday, less than 20 minutes before news organizations began reporting that Zacharia had been selected. Those bets are expected to pay out $3,689 and $4,023 respectively.

A Kalshi spokeswoman confirmed to the Journal that the company is investigating the trades but declined to provide further details. Trades are anonymous to the public, although Kalshi keeps records identifying its users.

Trump formally named Zacharia for the role Friday afternoon via Truth Social.

Zacharia, a conservative commentator who regularly appears on cable news, also serves as communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that runs Truth Social. She previously worked briefly at the Department of Homeland Security.

The episode comes amid growing scrutiny of Washington insiders using prediction markets to wager on political events they may know about before the public. The White House had already warned staff against using nonpublic information for personal gain after another series of unusually well-timed bets linked to the Iran war.

The newspaper noted that the episode follows another White House prediction-market controversy in July involving former Trump teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez, who reportedly made more than $100,000 wagering on what the president would say.

ABC News reported at the time that Perez placed Kalshi bets tied to more than a dozen Trump speeches, including his February State of the Union address, while working as a technical assistant with advance access to the president’s remarks. Perez was placed on unpaid leave. In August, he was ordered to turn in his profits and pay a $65,000 fine.

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