The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has requested a transcribed interview with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as part of its investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A source familiar with the matter told the Washington Examiner that the committee has asked Gates to appear for the interview on June 10 as lawmakers seek information about the billionaire’s past interactions with Epstein.
A transcribed interview is conducted under oath, typically behind closed doors, where witnesses answer questions from committee and staff members. The format allows investigators to gather detailed testimony that can be later used in public hearings or reports.
Other individuals have also been called for interviews before the oversight committee, including Ted Waitt, a former associate of Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. A prison guard who worked around Epstein, Tova Noel, and former Epstein aide Lesley Groff have been asked to sit for interviews as well.
Gates has acknowledged his relationship with Epstein and said the two had met on multiple occasions after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2008.
The billionaire has said the meetings with Epstein were related to philanthropic discussions.
Gates issued an apology to employees at his philanthropic organization after his name appeared in files released by the Department of Justice and said spending time with Epstein and bringing him around Gates Foundation executives was a “huge mistake.”
In the millions of documents released by the DOJ, Gates’s name appears in several emails. Epstein sent himself emails in 2013 that appear to be drafts styled as a resignation letter from Gates’s then-close associate, Boris Nikolic, in which Epstein wrote of resigning because he had gotten “caught up in a severe marital dispute” between the billionaire and his then-wife, Melinda Gates.
Gates has declared the emails to be “false” and said the last time he met with the convicted sex offender was in 2014.
The oversight committee, led by House Republicans, has broadened its investigation in recent months to examine not only Epstein’s criminal conduct but also the network of individuals and organizations that interacted with him.
It is not clear whether Gates has agreed to the requested interview or whether the committee plans to issue a subpoena if he declines to appear voluntarily.
Meanwhile, former Attorney General Pam Bondi has also been subpoenaed to appear for a deposition by a majority of the committee, though she has not yet indicated whether she plans to show up for her scheduled April 14 deposition.
HERE’S WHO HAS FALLEN FROM THE EPSTEIN FILES
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to say Tuesday whether the DOJ would seek to block her testimony, noting that he and Bondi had already appeared before lawmakers and “answered every single question” during a recent oversight meeting.
Now that she is no longer attorney general, he said, “What happens … is something I’ll leave to [House oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY)] and others to figure out,” adding when pressed that he was “not committing to anything” regarding possible privilege claims or legal challenges.
