Leavitt's abrupt stage exit triggers 'insider trading' accusations in prediction markets
Gamblers who bet on the length of the White House's daily press briefings cried foul on Wednesday after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made the curious decision to end her comments just seconds shy of the 65-minute mark - raking in a small fortune for those fortunate enough to have made such a savvy guess.
At her briefing, a grinning Leavitt introduced new dietary guidelines in alignment with the administration's "Making America Healthy Again" campaign, addressed President Donald Trump's oil deal with Venezuela, and discussed the U.S. seizure of a tanker linked to Venezuela for sanctions violations.
But it was her abrupt end to questions that had bettors up in arms.
As she bragged that the White House created a website mocking the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, Leavitt quickly picked up her papers off the podium.
"And so I would encourage everyone to take a look at the website. It's quite well done. And thank you all very much. It's great to be back with you," she concluded as she darted off the stage.
Bettors noted that the briefing had a 98% chance to run past 65 minutes. Instead, she exited with 30 seconds to spare.
"Traders on the NO side made 50x in seconds," noted X influencer PredictionMarketTrader.
The influencer was referencing odds on the prediction market Kalshi, which stated, "Speaking will be measured from first word audibly said by Karoline Leavitt to the last word audibly said by Karoline Leavitt. Pauses in speech will be included in the speech time if they are between those two points."
Gamblers and critics alike were livid at the eyebrow-raising result.
Democratic strategist Mike Nellis wrote on X, ""
"Prediction market bros will tell you this isn't insider trading," wrote a trader known as Hash.
"If this is true, and Congress bans stock trading… figure that these 'prediction markets' will soon be used to bribe politicians and whatnot," wrote the account h index enjoyer.
The account Myst wrote on X, "Prediction markets gotta get banned ASAP lmaooo."
Political commentator ettingermentum wrote, "This isn’t tenable."
Braden Hoffman noted that Leavitt appeared to look up at something before exiting the stage.
"This s--- has me in tearz . She even looked at the clock n dipped. IT WAZ HER WHO MADE THE TRADE."