Trump's Teleprompter Operator Made $100K on His Speeches

The DOJ responded to a subpoena for Epstein files with just 31 pages, Vance asked Marine Two to fly his son to golf, and cities that won't help ICE are losing rape kit funding

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

Trump’s teleprompter operator allegedly made more than $100,000 betting on which words the president would say. The Justice Department has handed over only 31 pages of Epstein records to New Mexico as the state investigates the late sex trafficker. JD Vance’s Secret Service detail is becoming fed up with his demands, including one to fly his son to a golf lesson on Marine Two. And the DOJ is threatening to yank rape kit funding from cities unless they agree to help ICE.

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Trump’s Teleprompter Operator Made $100k Betting on His Speeches

To be fair, winning a hundred grand by betting on what the president will say doesn’t even make the top twenty scandals in this White House.

Gabriel Perez has operated Donald Trump’s teleprompter since 2016. Federal investigators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission believe he made more than $100,000 betting on more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches on the prediction market Kalshi.

The market is called “Mentions.” Users bet on whether specific words or phrases get uttered during a public speech. Perez, sources say, typically has the final eyes on nearly all of Trump’s prepared remarks.

Kalshi’s own surveillance team flagged the trades and referred them to the CFTC. Investigators say Perez bet on the State of the Union, the Davos speech, a Medal of Honor ceremony, and remarks to the Detroit Economic Club.

In some cases, investigators found Perez backing out of bets mid-speech when Trump skipped a word he had wagered on. Trump goes off teleprompter about 80% of the time, by his own admission, which makes the man reading it the only person alive with an informational edge.

Karoline Leavitt said Trump called it a “disgrace” and personally put Perez on unpaid leave. By Trump fraud standards, this guy’s a Boy Scout.

Trump’s DOJ Is Hindering New Mexico’s Epstein Case, State Says

The Trump DOJ responded to a subpoena for the Epstein files the way a college freshman responds to a research assignment — with stuff they found in the newspaper.

The department on Wednesday rejected New Mexico’s demand for unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files, saying federal law prevents it from releasing millions of sensitive documents. Attorney General Raul Torrez accused the Trump administration of stonewalling.

Torrez reopened the investigation in February, focused on allegations that Epstein abused women and girls at his ranch outside Santa Fe for nearly three decades.

His office requested unredacted records. On July 10, it received 31 pages that largely consisted of previously released material, heavy redactions, and photocopies of newspaper clippings.

New Mexico officials note that federal prosecutors routinely ask courts to modify protective orders so evidence can be shared with state investigators. “That’s what real cooperation means,” a state spokesperson said.

State lawmakers subpoenaed U.S. attorneys’ offices in New Mexico, Florida, New York, and the U.S. Virgin Islands last month. Trump has said the country should move on from the case. At this rate they’ll respond to the next subpoena with a Wikipedia link.

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JD Vance Wanted to Fly His Son to Golf Practice on Marine Two

Every parent knows the struggle of getting a kid to practice across town, and JD Vance has solved it with a military helicopter.

Last week, Secret Service agents complained about a request to fly Vance’s son to a golf lesson on Marine Two, the helicopter that carries the vice president. The trip to Joint Base Andrews was canceled at the last minute due to thunderstorms.

The helicopter costs $16,000 to $24,600 in taxpayer funds per hour, per 2022 Defense Department estimates. Agents usually ferry children in SUVs. Using Marine Two for a child’s schedule is unprecedented.

Vance and his family have also used the helicopter at the last minute to look at houses to rent in Middleburg, Virginia. Agents describe repeated “off the record” movements that cancel their days off.

Agents have started making coins and stickers mocking the demands, built around Vance’s Secret Service codename, Bobcat. They call it the “Bobcat OTR Survivors Club,” which has the motto “Advance. OTR. Repeat.” Challenge coins are usually for surviving combat deployments, not a Tuesday trip to Middleburg.

Cities That Won’t Help ICE Could Lose Rape Kit Funding

The Trump administration has found a bold new way to eliminate the rape kit backlog: by eliminating funding altogether.

The Department of Justice is threatening to withhold grant money Fresno uses to process rape kits because California was deemed a sanctuary jurisdiction. Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz called the politicization of justice for victims outrageous.

The pattern is wide. No bulletproof vests for cops in Santa Cruz. No ambulances for paramedics in Beaverton, Oregon. And now no money to test rape kits in Fresno.

In June, DOJ grant administrators warned the city it hadn’t signed a certification agreeing to cooperate with DHS and ICE. State law prohibits sharing that information, and the 9th Circuit has upheld the law’s constitutionality. Janz sent DOJ his answer: there was no mistake, and the city won’t help ICE.

Fresno is midway through using a $2 million grant to test a batch of 400 rape kits. Fresno’s past grant money tested more than 2,500 backlogged kits, funded 33 new cases, and convicted four rapists. Last week, Dallas police announced an arrest in a cold case using DNA from the same federal program.

Judge William Orrick has already ruled the government can’t withhold public safety grants over immigration enforcement. He ruled the same way last year, and in 2017. The administration has now lost this argument in court three times, which is its own kind of backlog.

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