Bill Gates tells House lawmakers he ‘never witnessed’ Epstein crimes

WASHINGTON (CN) — Billionaire and Microsoft founder Bill Gates told members of Congress on Wednesday that he never witnessed any abuse against women and girls during his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Lawmakers said Gates, 70, was “cooperative” in answering questions from the House Oversight Committee, which for months has been probing the late New York financier and convicted sex offender and the Justice Department’s investigation into his crimes. The tech founder told the panel that he “never should have met” with Epstein in the first place.

Gates is the latest person in Epstein’s orbit to go before Congress to discuss his relationship with the businessman who cultivated a large web of influential and high-profile contacts. Epstein’s former assistant, Lesley Groff, met with the Oversight Committee on Tuesday — she similarly denied any knowledge of his crimes.

Speaking to reporters ahead of his House interview Wednesday morning, Gates said he would offer his help to lawmakers to “find justice” for Epstein’s victims. In an opening statement delivered to the committee, he said he “never victimized anyone” during his relationship with Epstein.

Gates told lawmakers that Epstein had sought a personal relationship with him, but that he had “never reciprocated,” and that the late financier had become aware that Gates had been unfaithful to his wife — though he added that conduct had “nothing to do” with his interactions with Epstein.

And the Microsoft founder, who said he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 and worked with him on a global health charity, claimed he’d “never witnessed nor had any indication” that the convicted sex offender was engaged in criminal activity and that he never visited Epstein’s island, ranch or home in Florida.

California Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told reporters on the sidelines of Wednesday’s interview that Gates provided lawmakers with information about other Epstein associates.

New Mexico Representative Melanie Stansbury added that Gates admitted he knew of Epstein’s reputation and that he’d previously been convicted of sex crimes.

“Mr. Gates was interested in potentially forming partnerships to bring donors into his global health work, and so he saw his relationship and conversations with Jeffrey Epstein as a means to potentially get wealthy donors to donate philanthropically,” said Stansbury. “Ultimately, in his words, he viewed this narrow relationship as being an acceptable means to access wealthy donors.”

Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett, a Republican who was in the room with Gates, said he felt the billionaire was “very coached” in his replies to lawmakers. “I don’t know that we’ll gather too much from this,” he told reporters.

Burchett opined that he thought Epstein was a “friend collector.”

“He just liked to have people around him that were a big deal and get his picture taken with them and hang out with them,” said the Republican congressman. “That was how he reeled them in.”

Meanwhile, the Oversight Committee’s GOP majority said recent interviews with Epstein associates underscored the need for more meetings with individuals close to his crimes and the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation. Panel chairman and Kentucky Representative James Comer said Wednesday that he would ask lawyer Alan Dershowitz to come to Capitol Hill and meet with lawmakers.

“We’re going to give him an opportunity to come in and answer several questions that arose yesterday based on Ms. Groff’s testimony and some things that some of the Epstein survivors said,” Comer told reporters.

Comer said he was “communicating” with the Justice Department about a potential interview with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Blanche, now President Donald Trump’s nominee to take over as attorney general on a full-time basis, was mentioned repeatedly by former Attorney General Pam Bondi during her own interview with the Oversight Committee last month. Lawmakers in the room said she largely pushed responsibility for the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files onto her former deputy.

Garcia said Wednesday that any interview with the acting attorney general should be an “under oath deposition” that is filmed and released publicly. But Democrats’ preference, he said, was a hearing with Blanche open to the press and the public.

The Justice Department has long faced scrutiny for its handling of the Epstein files and the release of millions of related documents in a public database. The agency was sluggish in publishing the Epstein documents and made several redaction errors that inadvertently published the names and faces of some of his victims.

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