Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee that Jeffrey Epstein appeared to spend time rehearsing — in emails written to himself — how he might blackmail Gates over extramarital affairs, and that none of those messages were ever sent to him.
The transcript of Gates' June 10 closed-door interview was released Tuesday. "I was not blackmailed," Gates said, "but, you know, as you look at these emails... it looks like Mr. Epstein's brainstorming was going in that direction." He described Epstein using an adviser to pass "veiled" threats, and appearing to coach that adviser on how a blackmail attempt might work.
Under questioning, Gates acknowledged at least three extramarital affairs. He said Epstein was involved with none of the women, and only learned about the affairs after the two men had already cut ties.
What's confirmed, and what the internet added
Here's where the feed ran ahead of the transcript. A post with thousands of likes announced that Gates "just CONFESSED under oath," framing the testimony as proof he was blackmailed. [1] The confession part is real: the three affairs are on the record, given under oath. The blackmail part is roughly the opposite of what Gates said. He testified that no threat was ever delivered to him, and the Justice Department said last year that it found no credible evidence Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals at all.
So the wild, true core is the email detail: a convicted sex offender apparently drafting blackmail strategy against the Microsoft co-founder in notes to himself, then never pulling the trigger.
How did Gates end up in those files? He said he began meeting Epstein in 2011, believing the financier's connections to the wealthy could raise money for the Gates Foundation's global health work. He was already aware Epstein had a criminal conviction "of a sexual nature" that, he conceded, he "probably should have" looked into more closely. He said he understood the full scope only in 2018, after the Miami Herald's reporting.
Asked about photographs showing him with Epstein's victims, Gates said he believed the women were Epstein's assistants, and that he never interacted with victims while conceding he may have been in their presence. [2]
The committee's Epstein probe continues, and the transcript is one witness's account. The strangest piece of it stays unresolved: emails in which Epstein, by Gates' telling, talked himself through a threat he never actually made.
Sources
Primary source: Bill Gates told House panel Epstein was plotting to blackmail him about extramarital affairs
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