Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is slated to testify before the House Oversight Committee on his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, becoming yet another high-profile person to be grilled by lawmakers investigating Epstein’s child sex crimes.
Gates is scheduled to appear before the committee for a transcribed interview on June 10, according to multiple reports. The GOP-led committee sent a letter to Gates on March 3, asking him to meet with lawmakers for an interview.
“While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work,” a Gates spokesman said on Tuesday.
Gates developed a relationship with Epstein beginning in 2011, three years after Epstein pled guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) wrote in a letter to Gates that the committee believes the tech billionaire has “information that will assist in its investigation.”
Gates apologized to the staff of his foundation earlier this year for his connection with Epstein and admitted to affairs with a Russian bridge player and a Russian nuclear physicist. Epstein knew about Gates’ sexual encounters, and Gates was mentioned multiple times by Epstein in emails released by the Justice Department late last year.
One of the emails appears to be a draft of a resignation letter from Gates’ former science adviser, Boris Nikolic, that Epstein sent to himself. In the email, the writer admits to “facilitating … illegal trysts, with married women” and helping Gates “get drugs, in order to deal with the consequences of sex with russian [sic] girls.” Another email states that Gates contracted a sexually transmitted disease from the affairs with Russian women and alleged that he intended to “surreptitiously” slip antibiotics to his then-wife, Melinda Gates.
Gates has vehemently denied those allegations and said that Epstein sought to “entrap and defame” him because he was frustrated that Gates broke off their relationship. Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2021, a process that began shortly after reports of Bill’s close relationship with Epstein began circulating in 2019.
“To give her credit, she was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing,” Gates said of his ex-wife during his apologetic remarks to staff in February.
Gates told his foundation employees that the two Russian women with whom he had affairs were not victims of Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme. The Russian bridge player with whom Gates had sexual relations was in her 20s when she met the Microsoft co-founder. She also met Epstein in 2013, and Epstein reportedly paid for the woman to attend school for a software coding course. In 2017, Epstein asked Gates to reimburse him for the college course.
“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates told his staff, adding, “To be clear I never spent any time with victims, the women around [Epstein].”
Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s sex crimes.
The House Oversight Committee has already questioned former President Bill Clinton, who flew on Epstein’s infamous jet numerous times, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over their connection to Epstein. The committee is also set to grill U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on May 6. Lutnick was once Epstein’s neighbor in New York City, and he visited Epstein on his private Caribbean island with his family in late 2012.
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