Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will appear before the House Oversight panel in June as part of its investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a person familiar with the matter told The Hill.
Gates, who is among the prominent figures who have faced backlash over ties to Epstein, is slated to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for a transcribed interview on June 10, the person familiar said.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Gates said he “welcomes the opportunity to appear before the committee.”
“While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work,” the spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.
Gates came into the spotlight earlier this year over his appearance in the Justice Department’s documents in the Epstein case. Included in January’s document release were two emails Epstein sent to Gates in July 2013, years after Epstein’s first sex crimes conviction.
One appeared to be a message meant for Gates himself, in which Epstein alleged the tech founder asked him to delete emails about a sexually transmitted disease and requested antibiotics that he could “surreptitiously” give to his then-wife.
Another email appeared to be a draft announcing his resignation from the Gates Foundation, in which Epstein claimed he helped Gates “get drugs” to “deal with consequences of sex with [R]ussian girls.” It’s unclear whether either email was ever sent to another recipient.
Gates previously said his relationship with Epstein was a “huge mistake.”
Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote to Gates in March requesting he appear before the committee as part of its larger investigation.
The committee “believes you have information that will assist” in its probe, Comer wrote.
The person familiar told The Hill others agreed to testify before the House Oversight panel in the coming months, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick; billionaire Ted Waitt, the co-founder of the computer hardware manufacturer Gateway; Epstein’s former aide Lesley Groff; and Tova Noel, one of the jail guards on duty when Epstein died.
