Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates sat for a closed-door interview with House Oversight Committee investigators on Wednesday and acknowledged that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein attempted to exploit knowledge of Gates' marital infidelity to maintain access to the tech billionaire. Gates described the attempted coercion in his opening statement, Fox News reported, telling lawmakers Epstein's scheme ultimately failed but revealed the lengths the disgraced financier went to in order to keep powerful men in his orbit.
The voluntary interview marks a significant moment in the committee's bipartisan investigation into Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and, more pointedly, into the federal government's handling of the criminal case against Epstein and the constellation of wealthy, influential figures who kept his company long after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing. But the facts he confirmed Wednesday raise uncomfortable questions about why one of the world's richest men continued socializing with a registered sex offender for years, and what, exactly, Epstein held over him.
In his opening statement, Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011 after Epstein claimed he could raise billions of dollars for global health causes. Gates said he "accepted the introduction without applying the scrutiny I should have." He characterized his contact with Epstein as "limited" and said the relationship fizzled out by December 2014 after Epstein failed to deliver on his philanthropic promises.
Gates also told investigators he was not aware of the specifics of Epstein's 2008 conviction at the time. He said he never witnessed Epstein engage in criminal behavior and was "never interested" in pursuing a relationship with the financier beyond the philanthropic pitch.
"He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda. I should never have met with Epstein in the first place."
That admission, that Epstein tried to use personal information as leverage, is the most consequential detail to emerge from the session. It tracks with federal documents released as part of the criminal case against Epstein, which showed the two men corresponding and socializing between 2011 and 2014, including at Epstein's New York town house.
Gates appeared multiple times across millions of federal documents released in connection with the Epstein case. Those files revealed that Epstein discovered Gates' extramarital affairs with two Russian women during his marriage to Melinda French Gates.
In one draft email described in the files, Epstein claimed Gates planned to "surreptitiously" give his then-wife medication to treat a sexually transmitted infection he had contracted from other women. The allegation, contained in Epstein's own writing, suggests the financier was cataloging compromising information about Gates, the kind of material useful for exactly the sort of leverage Gates described to investigators.
The broader pattern is familiar to anyone who has followed the Epstein saga. The push for public congressional hearings for Epstein survivors has drawn bipartisan support precisely because so many powerful people appear to have maintained relationships with Epstein well past the point where any reasonable person would have walked away.
Gates acknowledged his affairs during the interview. In a separate recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Gates had previously stated: "I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit." He also called his time with Epstein a "huge mistake."
Lawmakers from both parties said Gates was largely cooperative during the hours-long session, though not entirely forthcoming. Rep. Robert Garcia, the California Democrat who serves as the committee's ranking member, told reporters that Gates pushed back at times.
"I think any witness on occasion is going to be a little combative. He is pushing back on certain things. I think you'll see that in the transcript. But he's answering the questions."
Garcia's remarks before the interview were more pointed. On Tuesday, he laid out the committee's central concern plainly.
"We've said we don't care if you are a Republican or a Democrat or who you are, the fact that Mr. Gates still had a relationship with Mr. Epstein, even after knowing about the conviction, knowing actually what he had done, I think is very concerning. So we want to know what did Mr. Gates know, who else was around that orbit and why Mr. Gates continued to have a relationship with Mr. Epstein. I think those are important questions."
That a Democrat is pressing this hard on a figure like Gates, hardly a Republican donor, says something about where this investigation stands. Both parties appear to recognize that the public will not tolerate a whitewash, regardless of which side of the aisle the witnesses' political sympathies fall on.
The committee's investigation has already produced interviews with a striking roster of public figures. Former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, billionaire businessman Les Wexner, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have all participated. The political fallout over the Epstein files has reached into the highest levels of government on both sides.
A transcript of Gates' closed-door interview is expected to be released at a later date. Committee Chairman James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who invited Gates to testify, has kept the investigation's focus on the federal government's handling of the Epstein case and on the powerful figures who moved through Epstein's world.
Two more high-profile interviews are expected in the coming weeks. Kathryn Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel to former President Barack Obama, and Leon Black, co-founder of investment firm Apollo Global Management, are both scheduled to sit before the committee.
House Oversight Committee Democrats also released an image of Gates alongside former Prince Andrew at a Malaria summit in April 2018, a photograph that underscores how deeply the Epstein network's social circles overlapped with the global elite. The spectacle surrounding other high-profile Epstein testimony has only reinforced public suspicion that accountability remains selective.
Gates says his contact with Epstein was limited. He says he saw nothing criminal. He says the relationship ended when Epstein didn't deliver on fundraising promises. He says Epstein's leverage attempt failed.
Take all of that at face value. The timeline still doesn't flatter him.
Gates met Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein's conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Gates says he didn't know the specifics of that conviction. He socialized with Epstein at the man's New York town house. He continued the relationship until December 2014, when it "fizzled out", not because of moral revulsion, but because Epstein didn't raise the money he'd promised.
A man with Gates' resources, staff, and access to information chose not to look too closely at who he was dealing with. That's not a crime. But it is a choice, and it's the same choice a long line of wealthy, connected people made when it came to Jeffrey Epstein.
The committee is right to keep asking why. The transcript, when it arrives, may answer some questions. But the pattern is already clear enough: Epstein built his network by offering access and collecting leverage. The powerful men who accepted the first part had no business being surprised by the second.
When billionaires and former presidents keep showing up in the same dead predator's files, the public deserves more than regret and passive voice. It deserves a full accounting, and the willingness to follow every thread, no matter whose name is on it.
