Bill Gates 'voluntarily' explains his Epstein ties to Congress



Bill Gates knew Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender. He met with him anyway — for years. On Wednesday, he had to explain that to Congress.

The 70-year-old Microsoft co-founder appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for a closed-door, transcribed interview. The session lasted nearly six hours.

'I guess if you're a big deal, you can do more than the rest of us.'

On his way in, Gates told reporters he was "glad to be here voluntarily." He retained Jake Greenberg, who until December was the Oversight Committee's chief investigations counsel. Mid-session, Greenberg reportedly said Gates would not answer questions about his affairs unless directly tied to Epstein.

The paper trail complicates the "voluntary" part.

In February, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) formally asked Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to subpoena Gates and compel him to testify under oath.

Comer sent Gates a formal written request in March stating the committee believed he had "information that will assist in its investigation." Before the session on Wednesday, Comer told reporters, "No one's accusing Bill Gates of any wrongdoing."

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Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg/Getty Images

In his prepared opening statement, Gates expressed regret but denied having extensive knowledge about Epstein's criminal behavior.

"I recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed,” he admitted. “I accepted the introduction without applying the scrutiny I should have."

He also denied ever visiting Epstein's island, ranch, or Florida home.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor and served jail time as a registered sex offender. Gates claimed he began meeting with Epstein in 2011 over a pitch to unlock billions in global health donations.

By December 2014, Gates said he had cut off contact, concluding Epstein "would never deliver on his promises."

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) said she directly asked Gates why he continued to associate with a registered sex offender. Gates told her that "getting billions of dollars for global health was worth it,” she said.

After Gates allegedly cut ties in 2014, a departing employee engaged Epstein to negotiate the "separation" — Epstein, Gates claimed, used that channel to learn of his infidelities and pressure him to re-engage.

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Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/Getty Images

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called the questioning "intense" but said Gates was "well coached" and that he didn't expect much new information to surface.

Burchett also broke with GOP leadership over the closed-door format: "I'm big about transparency. ... Let it be wide open." He added, "I guess if you're a big deal, you can do more than the rest of us."

Gates closed his opening statement to Congress with a conditional apology: "If the time I spent with Epstein lent him any credibility, I am deeply sorry."

He left without answering a single question from reporters.

Democrats have repeatedly called for Trump to testify — a push Republicans have so far blocked. But the White House may not be able to stay out of it much longer.

Per Stansbury, Republicans have agreed to call acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — Trump's former lawyer — to testify about White House Epstein strategy sessions.

Comer also announced plans for a transcribed interview with Alan Dershowitz, who negotiated Epstein's 2008 plea deal.

A full transcript is expected in the coming days.

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EXCLUSIVE: Joni Ernst Introduces Bill To Scale Back Taxpayer-Funded Perks For Ex-Presidents Who Are Rolling In Dough

'This commonsense bill flips Washington on its head'

Obama called Trump a 'corrupt motherf***er,' a 'madman,' a 'racist, sexist pig,' and a 'f***ing lunatic,' new book says



For more than a decade, there has been no love lost between Barack Obama and Donald Trump, from Trump popularizing the birther conspiracy theory to Obama taking shots at Trump during the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner.
The animosity between the two ratcheted up during the 2020 presidential campaign, as the duo took turns lobbing insults at one another. Obama called Trump a "two-bit dictator," in what was a departure from the unwritten rule that American presidents shouldn't disparage their successors. In early 2020, there was also a feud between the two on who was responsible for the "economic boom" in the United States. A new book claims that Obama not only attacked Trump publicly, but also lashed out at Trump in expletive-laced tirades behind the scenes.
According to the upcoming book, titled "Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Donald Trump," Obama castigated then-President Donald Trump while speaking to donors and political advisers ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Obama denounced Trump with a flurry of insults, many of which including vulgar language.

"More often: 'I didn't think it would be this bad.' Sometimes: 'I didn't think we'd have a racist, sexist pig.' Depending on the outrage of the day … a passing 'that f***ing lunatic' with a shake of his head," Obama said of Trump, according to the book written by Atlantic staff writer Edward-Isaac Dovere.

"He's a madman," Obama allegedly told "big donors looking to squeeze a reaction out of him in exchange for the big checks they were writing to his foundation."

Dovere noted that Obama unleashed his strongest condemnation of Trump when he was "speaking to foreign leaders — including Vladimir Putin, amid the investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow — without any aides on the call," according to the Guardian, which published excerpts of the book.
"'That corrupt motherf***er," Obama allegedly said of Trump for holding phone calls with the Russian president without aides on the line, according to the book that will debut next week.
Dovere claims that during the 2016 Republican primary, Obama originally preferred Trump to be the GOP presidential nominee because he saw him as a weaker presidential candidate than Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). "Trump was nowhere near as clever as the hard-right Texas senator, the runner-up in the Republican primary in 2016," the Guardian reported of Dovere's book.
It wasn't only Obama who was firing off profanities, according to the book. During a Democratic primary debate in 2019, then-candidate Kamala Harris attacked her future boss, now-President Joe Biden, for his comments about segregationist senators and his record as a senator on desegregation issues. Now first lady Jill Biden reacted harshly to Kamala's bashing of her husband, and she reportedly said Harris could "go f*** herself."

George W. Bush: Today's Republicans are 'isolationist, protectionist, and ... nativist'



Former President George W. Bush on Tuesday characterized the Republican Party of 2021 as a "nativist" party, saying that's not his "vision" for what Republicans should stand for.

"I would describe it as isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent nativist," Bush said during an interview with Hoda Kotb on NBC's "Today" in response to a question about today's GOP.

"That's not exactly my vision, but you know what, I'm just an old guy they put out to pasture," he added. "Just a simple painter."

How would you describe the Republican Party today? -@hodakotbI would describe it as isolationist, protectionist,… https://t.co/r5ygBXNLQO
— TODAY (@TODAY)1618922105.0

The former president is currently on tour promoting his new book, "Out of Many, One," a collection of paintings by him that feature immigrants to the United States with text sharing their stories. In a Washington Post op-ed published Friday, Bush wrote that the purpose of his book is "to share some portraits of immigrants, each with a remarkable story I try to tell, and to humanize the debate on immigration and reform."

"The system really needs to be reformed and fixed," Bush told Kotb after explaining how migrants are coming to the U.S. border in search of a better life away from natural disasters, poverty, violence, and criminal tyranny in Central America.

"Two things I think will help alleviate that: One is an asylum process that is more robust — in other words, the border is being overwhelmed right now and there needs to be more judges and more courts so people can have a fair hearing," he said. "Secondly, we need to change the work visas. There's a lot of jobs that are empty and there's a lot of jobs that need to be filled and yet there are people willing to work hard to do so."

Bush lamented that both Republicans and Democrats think they can score political points against the other side on the immigration issue, which prevents actual reforms from becoming law.

"It's an easy issue to frighten some of the electorate and I'm trying to have a different kind of voice," Bush said.

Asked by Kotb if a "hypothetical" candidate who is "pro-immigration," supports amnesty with citizenship for illegal aliens, supports DACA, "reasonable" gun control, and increased funding for public schools could win the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, Bush said, "Sure, yeah."

"I think if the emphasis is integrity, and decency, and trying to work to get problems solved, I think that person has a shot," he said.

"By the way, 'pro-immigration' isn't the right way to put it," Bush added. "I think border enforcement with a compassionate touch is how I would put it. 'Pro-immigration' basically means let's just open up the borders, and nobody's really for that. And you can't have a country that has open borders."