Washington — Bill Gates will appear before the House Oversight Committee for a transcribed interview as part of the panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, according to a source familiar with the plans.
The Microsoft co-founder is scheduled for questioning on June 10, the source said.
A spokesperson for Gates said he “welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee.”
“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 spokesperson said.
Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the panel’s Republican chairman, wrote to Gates on March 3 requesting he appear for the interview.
“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” Comer wrote at the time.
Gates, who is one of the world’s wealthiest people, apologized in February to the staff of his philanthropic Gates Foundation for his ties to Epstein. He said their relationship lasted from 2011 through 2014.
In July 2013, Epstein sent himself a pair of emails containing unverified allegations that Gates had extramarital “sex with Russian girls” that resulted in a sexually transmitted infection requiring antibiotic treatment. In one email, Epstein claimed Gates also sought to “surreptitiously give” antibiotics to his then-wife, Melinda Gates.
A spokesperson for Gates told CBS News in January that the “claims are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”
The Wall Street Journal reported in February that at the same employee town hall where Gates apologized to staff, he admitted that he “did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities.”
Later emails and text messages show Epstein sought to rekindle his friendship with Gates, and secure an investment.
Epstein wanted to pitch Gates on a donor-advised fund, a tax-deductible charitable vehicle that Epstein wanted to operate, but it never materialized.
Text messages from 2017 released by congressional investigators in November show Epstein communicating with an apparent adviser to Gates about the proposal.
The adviser said Gates was interested in the idea, but said Melinda Gates didn’t want him to communicate with Epstein. The two divorced in 2021.
“He wants to talk to you but his wife won’t let him,” the adviser said. In a series of texts a minute later, the adviser said of Gates, “he loves you,” “he says hi,” and “he feels bad about the [donor advised fund] btw He thought great idea but wife wouldn’t allow.”
Gates is the latest in a procession of famous and powerful figures to sit for depositions before the Oversight Committee’s Epstein investigators.
Others who have appeared include former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, billionaire Les Wexner and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
The committee has also requested interviews with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and Doug Band, Bill Clinton’s longtime aide. Lutnick is scheduled to appear on May 6.
