‘Serious error of judgment’: Bill Gates meets Jeffrey Epstein as he appears before House committee | Today’s news
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Wednesday that he “never victimized anybody” when answering questions from US lawmakers about his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to AFP, he called his meeting with Epstein a “serious lapse in judgment” and remarked, “If his time with Epstein lent him any credibility, I deeply apologize.”
In prepared testimony submitted to the closed-door hearing and later posted on his personal website, Gates said: “I never witnessed or had any indication that Epstein was involved in ongoing criminal activity. I never went to his island, his ranch or his house in Florida. I never stalked anyone.”
Gates, one of the world’s richest people and a prominent philanthropist, appeared before the House Oversight Committee for a taped interview focusing on his dealings with Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking with underage girls.
The first meeting with Epstein in 2011 and the interaction ended in 2014, Gates says
A House committee called Gates to testify after documents released by the Justice Department sparked renewed scrutiny of his interactions with Epstein. A number of other prominent figures also addressed the panel, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
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Among the documents reviewed was a draft of an email from 2013 in which Epstein appeared to indicate that he was helping Gates deal with problems related to extramarital affairs, including getting antibiotics after a sexually transmitted infection.
Gates dismissed the email as fabricated and denied the claims.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Gates informed his foundation staff that he had affairs with two Russian women, but denied ever spending time with Epstein’s victims.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011, three years after the financier pleaded guilty in Florida to prostitution of a minor. He also mentioned that Epstein presented himself as someone capable of raising billions of dollars for global health initiatives through wealthy individuals for whom he provided tax and estate planning services.
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“I remember being aware that Epstein had faced previous legal problems, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he had committed. I accepted the introduction without using the control I had,” Gates noted.
Gates said his association with Epstein ended in December 2014 after it became clear that none of the potential donors presented by the financier had sufficient interest in supporting the initiatives under discussion.
“I told him we weren’t going any further and I stopped communicating or seeing him,” Gates said.
Read also | Pam Bondi says all requested Epstein files were released when she testified before the House
Reports indicated that Melinda French Gates raised concerns about Epstein as early as 2013, but Gates continued to maintain contact with him for at least another year.
Melinda French Gates, who ended her marriage to the Microsoft co-founder in 2021, said any unanswered questions about the relationship should be addressed by Gates and others involved.
Gates said in his testimony Wednesday that he later learned that Epstein “learned about sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage.”
He argued that the matters had “nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein” and claimed that Epstein tried to “use information about my infidelities — in addition to the many lies he layered on top — to pressure me to get involved with him again. He was unsuccessful in that effort,” he said.
President Donald Trump, who has maintained a long association with Epstein, initially resisted calls to release the files, a stance that led to accusations of a cover-up during his first year back in office.
Democratic lawmakers said they plan to question Gates about what he knew about Epstein’s criminal activities and the true extent of their relationship.
Unlike several other committee meetings that have been made public, Gates’ interview will not be videotaped.
According to U.S. media reports, Gates retained former Justice Department lawyer John Moran and was assisted by Jake Greenberg, a former senior oversight committee investigator. Ethics experts said the arrangement could raise appearance concerns, although it didn’t necessarily break any rules.
