The latest tranche of Epstein files, released by the DOJ last week, featured repeated mentions of some very famous names, including Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Bill Clinton, and Bill Gates.
Earlier this week, Gates’ former wife, Melinda Gates, called on him to explain his involvement with Epstein.
And in a show of accountability rarely seen from men of his stature, Bill sat down with an Australian TV station to do exactly that.
Was he able to clear his name? Well, not exactly…
In an interview that aired on 9 News Australia today, Gates insisted that despite claims made by Epstein in an unsent email, he never had sexual relations with any of Epstein’s victims, nor did he conceal a sexually transmitted disease from his wife.
“Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent,” Gates told 9 News Australia.
“The email is false. I don’t know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way? Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize that I did that.”
Gates says he met Epstein in 2011 and that he “only went to dinners” with him before severing ties in 2014.
He claims that Epstein lured him in with promises of assisting Gates in his philanthropic efforts.
“The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end,” Gates told 9 News’ political editor Charles Croucher.
“I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.”
Gates went on to double down on the claim that he never went to Epstein’s private island or attended one of his notorious sex parties.
“I never went to the island, I never met any women,” he said, adding:
“And so, the more that comes out, the more clear it’ll be that, although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.”
The Microsoft founder’s interview comes just one day after his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, told NPR that he “need[s] to answer” to his associations with Epstein.
“Whatever questions remain there of what I don’t — can’t even begin to know all of it — those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me,” she said.
“And, I am so happy to be away from all the muck that was there.”
It’s worth noting, of course, that Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, so anyone who interacted with him in the years that followed was knowingly carrying on a relationship with a child sex offender.
So even if Gates’ above claims are truthful, he still doesn’t come off looking very good here.