Bill Gates to testify before U.S. Congress in Epstein case
Kyiv • UNN
Bill Gates will testify before the U.S. Congress regarding his meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. The billionaire calls these contacts a mistake and denies any wrongdoing.
Bill Gates will appear on Wednesday before a U.S. Congressional committee investigating the Jeffrey Epstein case, becoming the latest influential figure linked to the disgraced financier to testify, UNN reports, citing AP.
Details
Members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee are set to question the billionaire and Microsoft co-founder behind closed doors, as they have done with other witnesses as part of the investigation. Transcripts are often released later.
U.S. Representative James Comer, a Republican and chairman of the committee, formally requested that Gates testify after he repeatedly appeared in a series of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the Epstein investigation.
The case materials read like a list of influential people in technology, finance, politics, and other fields. All have denied involvement in Epstein's crimes, but some maintained or established friendships with him even after his history of sexual abuse became known.
The case files include calendar entries of meetings between Gates and Epstein, email correspondence between them regarding charitable projects, and photographs of Gates at events that Epstein also attended.
Their professional relationship began in 2011, the publication writes.
Gates, who heads the Gates Foundation, is not accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein and denies any knowledge of Epstein's abuse of girls. He stated that they met only to discuss philanthropy and called his connection to Epstein a "huge mistake."
Both Gates and his former wife, Melinda French Gates, have stated that his connection to Epstein created tension in their marriage.
In February, the foundation acknowledged 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 co-created a charitable fund, and the foundation made no payments to Epstein.
In March, the foundation's CEO, Mark Suzman, initiated an external review to examine the foundation's past interactions with Epstein.