WASHINGTON (AP) — On Wednesday, Bill Gates is set to testify before a congressional committee examining the Jeffrey Epstein documents, marking him as the latest high-profile individual connected to the disgraced financier to provide testimony.
The House Oversight Committee plans to conduct a private session with the billionaire and Microsoft co-founder, similar to its approach with other witnesses involved in the inquiry. Typically, transcripts of these sessions are made public afterward.
Committee Chairman, Republican U.S. Representative James Comer, officially requested Gates’ testimony following the frequent appearance of his name in a collection of documents released by the Justice Department as part of its investigation into Epstein.
The documents resemble a directory of influential men spanning the tech, finance, and political worlds, among others. Although all have denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s illegal activities, some continued or initiated relationships with him even after his criminal past was exposed.
Among the evidence are entries on Epstein’s calendar scheduling meetings with Gates, email exchanges regarding charitable ventures, and photographs capturing Gates at events attended by Epstein.
Their professional relationship began in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor, and lasted until at least late 2014, according to the documents.
Epstein was federally indicted in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The Justice Department alleged that Epstein formed a vast network of underage girls, some as young as 14, for him to sexually abuse between 2002 and 2005. He died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of girls. He has said they met only to discuss philanthropy and has called his association with Epstein “a huge mistake.”
Both Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, have said his association with Epstein created tension in their marriage.
The foundation acknowledged in February that a small number of employees had met with Epstein based on his “claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health.” They never created a charitable fund together, and the foundation made no payments to Epstein.
Foundation CEO Mark Suzman commissioned an external review in March to examine its past engagement with Epstein.
At another closed-door deposition in February, former President Bill Clinton faced more than six hours of questioning from lawmakers about his association with Epstein more than two decades ago. Epstein had visited the White House several times during Clinton’s presidency, and Clinton flew occasionally on Epstein’s private jet.
The former Democratic president said he had seen no signs of Epstein’s sexual abuse and stopped associating with him long before Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea. Clinton has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Democrats on the House committee have pushed for testimony from President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein. Republicans have said they have not come across any evidence that Trump did anything wrong during his well-documented friendship with Epstein.