Kalshi Investigates Bets Placed Before Trump's Press Secretary Pick

Three wagers predicting Katie Zacharia would become Trump's press secretary were placed before the news broke. Kalshi is now investigating those trades, which put less than $175 at risk and could yield over $9,500.

Katie Zacharia was not considered a leading candidate. In the days before President Donald Trump appointed her on Friday, Kalshi bettors assigned her roughly a 1% probability.

How Were Early Bets on a 1% Chance Trump Press Secretary Pick Placed?

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates Kalshi, a prediction market. Participants purchase contracts on real-world occurrences. Each contract returns $1 if the event occurs, meaning a 1% probability costs roughly one cent.

According to a Journal examination of public Kalshi records, the first wager of $19 was placed at approximately 10:43 p.m. ET on Thursday. That bet stands to pay $1,896.

Around 1:41 p.m. on Friday, two additional bets, roughly $74 and $80, were made. They are poised to pay $3,689 and $4,023 respectively.

Approximately twenty minutes later, The New York Times and other news organizations started reporting the selection. Trump subsequently confirmed it on Truth Social.

"It is my Great Honor to have just appointed, as Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia… I am confident that Katie will deliver strong results for our Country as the next White House Press Secretary, as she has the respect of, and will work fantastically with, the Media, the American…"

— The White House (@WhiteHouse), October 9, 2026

Kalshi does not publicly disclose traders' identities, but it maintains records of who made each wager.

Is Kalshi's White House Issue Escalating?

Katie Zacharia works as an attorney and appears frequently on Fox News and Newsmax. She provides communications advice to Trump Media & Technology Group, the entity that operates Truth Social. She succeeds Karoline Leavitt.

“Serving President Trump and the American people at this critical 250-year mark is the honor of a lifetime,” Zacharia wrote after Trump’s announcement.

This is not the first White House-related incident for Kalshi. In August, Gabriel Perez, Trump's teleprompter operator, settled with the CFTC over wagers on the president's speeches. He returned $107,539, paid a $65,000 fine, and agreed to a three-year trading prohibition.

Previously, a series of accurately timed bets on the Iran conflict led to a White House memorandum. That memo cautioned employees against using nonpublic information for personal profit.

Last month, lawmakers initiated a separate insider trading investigation into three other platforms. Kalshi has not disclosed where its review of the Zacharia bets may go.