Bill Gates to face questions from House committee over links to Jeffrey Epstein | Bill Gates
Bill Gates will testify before the House oversight and reform committee on Wednesday as part of the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Microsoft co-founder will appear in a closed session where MPs are expected to question him about his past relationship with Epstein. A transcript of the interview is expected to be released at a later date.
In a statement to the Guardian before his appearance, a spokesman for Gates said Gates “welcomed the opportunity to appear before the committee” and said that “although he has never witnessed or participated in any illegal conduct by Epstein, he looks forward to answering all of the committee’s questions in support of his important work.”
The committee, chaired by James Comer, wanted Gates to appear In March, after the justice department released millions of documents related to Epstein earlier this year. The files included numerous mentions of Gates, as well as several photographs of him and records of his meetings with him. Epstein several timesGates’ review is renewed past ties to the disgraced financier.
Gates has not been charged with any crimes in connection with Epstein and has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Ahead of Gates’ meeting Wednesday morning, Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee’s top Democrat, said: he told reporters “We want to know what Mr. Gates knew, who else was in that orbit, and why Mr. Gates continued his relationship with Mr. Epstein,” he said earlier this week.
The published records also include correspondence between Epstein and some of Gates’ names. former advisors And Gates Foundation staff. One expression After the files were released, the foundation said it was aware of the emails and said “based on allegations that Epstein could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development, a small number of foundation employees engaged with Epstein to secure this potential funding.”
“Ultimately, the foundation did not cooperate with Epstein in any way and no funds were established,” the foundation added.
Gates’ founding in April announced It said it had “launched an external review to examine the Foundation’s past dealings with Epstein and new philanthropic partnerships and evaluate our current policies to improve upon it.” The foundation said the review is ongoing and its board and management will receive an update this summer.
In recent years Gates has publicly expressed his regret About her past relationship with Epstein. In an interview last year in question He said he met with Epstein several times to discuss philanthropy but that spending time with the convicted sex offender was “stupid.”
“Yeah, I think I’m pretty stupid,” Gates said. “I thought he would help me with global health philanthropy, but he actually didn’t, and that was a huge mistake.”
Earlier this year, Wall Street Magazine Gates reportedly apologized to Gates foundation employees for his past ties to Epstein at a town hall meeting in February.
Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011, several years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution, according to the Journal, which reviewed a recording of the meeting. Gates told staff he was aware of what he called “an 18-month-old incident” that restricted Epstein’s travel, but acknowledged that he did not adequately check Epstein’s background.
Gates told staff that he continued to meet with Epstein throughout 2014 even after his then-wife, Melinda French, expressed concerns about Gates. Gates said he flew with Epstein on a private jet and spent time with him in Washington, New York, France and Germany, but “never spent the night” or visited Epstein’s private island.
During the meeting, Gates also reportedly admitted to having two conditions. extramarital affairs What Epstein later discovered was that they were referenced in emails released in the Epstein files, but that he said they did not involve any of Epstein’s victims.
“I didn’t do anything illegal. I didn’t see anything illegal,” Gates said, according to the Journal.
He also touched upon photographs in the Epstein files in which he was shown with women with corrected faces, and said that Epstein asked him to take part in the photograph after meetings with his assistants. “To be clear, I spent no time with the victims, the women around them,” Gates said.
Gates called spending time with Epstein a “huge mistake” and apologized to “other people who were put in this situation because of the mistake I made.” Gates said at the town hall that he last met with Epstein in 2014, but that he continued to receive emails from Epstein afterward and did not respond to them.
When asked about the town hall meeting reported by the Journal, a Gates Foundation spokesperson told the Guardian that “this was an employee town hall, which Bill does twice a year,” adding that “in the conversation, Bill answered questions submitted by foundation staff on a variety of topics, including the release of the Epstein files, the foundation’s work in artificial intelligence, and the future of global health.”
“At the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, answered many questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions,” the spokesperson said.
Before this week’s testimony, New York Times It was prepared with the help of Jake Greenberg, the former top investigative counsel to the House oversight committee, Gates reported.
