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January 1, Bill Gates Rattled By Jeffrey Epstein Questions in Awkward Interview

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2 years ago

February 1, 2023

Bill Gates is clearly tired of being asked about his connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as evidenced by an awkward interview with Australia’s ABC 7.30.

The Microsoft cofounder stammered and stumbled over his words as host Sarah Ferguson grilled him over his relationship with Epstein.

The backstory

Gates first started meeting with Epstein in 2011 — three years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage girl in Florida — the New York Times reported. In 2019, Gates told The Wall Street Journal that he didn’t have a business relationship or friendship with Epstein.

In July 2019, New York federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal indictment against Epstein, accusing the wealthy financial manager of operating a sex trafficking ring where he sexually abused dozens of underage girls.

The following month, Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell; the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said his cause of death was suicide by hanging.

Melinda Gates, Bill’s ex-wife, told CBS’s Gayle King that his continued meetings with Epstein had contributed to their divorce, which was finalized in 2021.

The awkward interview

Ferguson noted that one of the issues that “dogged” Gates was his connection to Epstein.

“Do you regret the relationship that you maintained with him against Melinda’s advice and wishes?” she asked.

Gates, apparently taken aback by the question, stammered a bit and replied: “You’re going way back in time, but yeah, I will say for the over a hundredth time that, yeah, I shouldn’t have had dinners with him.”

Ferguson pressed on with a follow-up question: “Epstein had a way of sexually compromising people. Is that what Melinda was warning you about?”

“No,” Gates responded. “No, I had dinner with him, and that’s all.”

Gates also denied there was a relationship of any sort between Epstein and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"I shouldn't have had dinners with him." – @billgates on his association with Jeffrey Epstein #abc730 pic.twitter.com/xdqHjyVv3U

— abc730 (@abc730) January 30, 2023