Trump appoints new White House press secretary Zakaria, who has lived in Beijing and has Chinese skills

U.S. President Trump announced on the 9th that television political commentator Katie Zacharia will take over as White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt, who resigned in August this year. However, this personnel appointment, which has exceeded the expectations of the outside world, not only attracted attention because of Zakaria's rich "China experience" in the past, but also revealed the suspicion of insider trading that someone made accurate bets on the prediction market platform in advance.

Trump announced the personnel case in a post on the social platform "Truth Social", describing the 41-year-old Zakaria as a "loyal fan and member of the Make America Great Again Movement (MAGA)" who will bring a strong performance to the United States.

Zakaria, who graduated from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles and is qualified as a lawyer, currently works as a senior consultant for the "Trump Media Technology Group" that operates "Real Communities". She briefly served as spokesperson and deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the past, and was a frequent commentator on conservative television channels such as Fox News and Newsmax.

Trump pointed out that Zakaria invested in the campaign team during the presidential election to support the work in key swing states, and all 7 states she participated in won, and her performance was impeccable. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Washington Post reported that Zakaria had visited the White House twice to meet with Trump in the past two weeks and "passed the test" during the interview process. People familiar with the matter emphasized that she is familiar with Trump's inner circle and fully conforms to Trump's preference for the spokesperson's image.

Before entering the political circle of Washington, Zakaria had a high-profile "Beijing experience." Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" reported on the 11th that from August 2011 to June 2013, she lived in Beijing and worked as an assistant lawyer in the international business team of China's top Zhong Lun Law Firm, assisting in handling cross-border legal business including the World Bank. In addition, she also held a public relations position at the "Migrant Children Charity Association", a non-profit organization that focuses on the children of migrant workers, and still maintains basic Chinese skills.

However, this personnel case is also involved in insider trading controversy. The Wall Street Journal reported that prediction market platform Kalshi has launched an investigation into Zakaria’s unusual betting. Before Trump announced this personnel decision, outsiders generally estimated that Zakaria's chance of being selected was only 1%. However, a $19 bet appeared on the Kalshi platform on the evening of the 8th, with an estimated profit of $1,896. On the afternoon of the 9th, two more accurate bets of approximately $74 and $80 were poured in, with profits expected to be $3,689 and $4,023, a profit of nearly a hundred times.