Bill Gates sought to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein during congressional testimony Wednesday, telling a House panel that he made “a grave error in judgement” by meeting with him 15 years ago and denying any knowledge of the deceased sex offender’s ongoing criminal conduct.
Read more Five takeaways from the primaries in Maine and South Carolina
“I’m glad to be here voluntarily to testify, to help with the committee’s work,” Gates told reporters before entering. “I hope my testimony is helpful to the important work of the committee to find justice for the victims.” He did not take questions.
Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he wanted answers about the full scope of Gates’s ties to Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. “We just want to know about his relationship with Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell,” Comer told reporters. “What did he see? Did he know what was going on? Was he involved in any of this?” He added: “No one’s accusing Bill Gates of any wrongdoing, and I certainly appreciate him coming in voluntarily.”
Gates sat for an interview with the Oversight Committee, which for months has summoned powerful men and women from Epstein’s orbit. The session would not be recorded, the committee said — unlike the videotaped interviews this year from former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
In an opening statement obtained by The Washington Post, Gates planned to tell lawmakers: “I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated.”
Gates called meeting Epstein “a grave error in judgement.” He said he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 by people he trusted, drawn by Epstein’s claim that he could raise billions of dollars for global health. The relationship ran through 2014, Gates said, when he concluded Epstein would never deliver the donors he had promised and cut off contact.
Read more Trump’s attorney general pick stares down Senate confirmation hurdles
Gates also confronted the most damaging material in the files: his own infidelity. In his prepared remarks, he acknowledged being unfaithful in his marriage and said Epstein later tried to weaponize that knowledge — “in addition to many lies that he layered on top” — to pressure him back into a relationship. The effort failed, Gates said. “If the time I spent with Epstein lent him any credibility, I am deeply sorry.”
Gates is referenced numerous times in the Justice Department documents released this year, though he has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Among the most explosive items were draft emails or notes attributed in the files to Epstein, including unverified claims about Gates’s personal life and sexual health. Gates has denied those claims.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor and served 13 months in jail. He met Gates roughly three years later. Epstein died in a New York jail cell in August 2019, ruled a suicide, weeks after his arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The committee interviewed Epstein’s longtime assistant Lesley Groff on Tuesday and plans to question investor Leon Black and former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley, among others, in the coming weeks.
Comer said Wednesday that he would also call Alan Dershowitz, a former Epstein attorney, to testify — a decision he said followed meetings with several of Epstein’s survivors. “We’re going to give him an opportunity to come in and answer several, several questions,” Comer said. He added that he still wants acting attorney general Todd Blanche to appear; Blanche spoke to the panel earlier this year alongside former attorney general Pam Bondi.
Read more Jane Fonda says Trump-era America is more dangerous than McCarthyism
