Bill Gates appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Wednesday for a closed-door deposition regarding his past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose network has been the subject of a years-long federal investigation.
In a statement to the Guardian before the session, a spokesperson for Gates said that Gates “welcomes the opportunity to appear before the committee” and that “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.”
The committee, chaired by Representative James Comer, requested Gates’s appearance in March, following the Justice Department’s release of millions of documents related to Epstein earlier this year. The files included numerous mentions of Gates, as well as photographs, and records showing that he met with Epstein on several occasions, renewing scrutiny of Gates’s ties to the disgraced financier.
Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has repeatedly denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
The released records also include correspondence between Epstein and some of Gates’s former advisers and staff at the Gates Foundation. In a statement after the files were released, the foundation said that it was aware of the emails and said that “on the basis of Epstein’s claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development, a small number of foundation employees interacted with Epstein to try to secure this potential funding.” The foundation said it ultimately did not pursue any collaboration with Epstein.
In April, the Gates Foundation announced that it had commissioned an external review to assess past foundation engagement with Epstein and its current policies for vetting philanthropic partnerships. The foundation said the review is ongoing and that its board and management will receive an update this summer.
In recent years, Gates has publicly expressed regret over his past association with Epstein. In an interview last year, he said that he met with Epstein several times to discuss philanthropy, but called himself “foolish” to have spent any time with the convicted sex offender. “Yes, I think I was quite stupid,” Gates said. “I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy, in fact it failed to do that, and it was just a huge mistake.”
Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Gates apologized to employees of the Gates Foundation during a February town hall meeting for his past ties to Epstein. According to the Journal, which reviewed a recording of the meeting, Gates said that he first met with Epstein in 2011, several years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida. Gates told staff that he was aware of what he described as an “18-month thing” that had restricted Epstein’s travel, but acknowledged that he did not adequately check Epstein’s background.
Gates told staff that he continued meeting with Epstein through 2014, even after his then wife, Melinda French Gates, had raised concerns. Gates said that he flew on a private jet with Epstein and spent time with him in Washington, New York, France and Germany, but “never stayed overnight” or visited Epstein’s private island. During the meeting, Gates also reportedly acknowledged that he had two extramarital affairs that Epstein later discovered, which were referenced in emails released in the Epstein files, but said that they did not involve any of Epstein’s victims. “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates said, according to the Journal.
A Gates Foundation spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian that the town hall occurred, saying that “Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions.”
A transcript of Gates’s deposition is expected to be released at a later date.