Bill Gates’ Damaged Reputation Is About To Get Another Epstein Test

Bill Gates has gotten used to hitting softballs from lawmakers about his philanthropic work preventing kids in Africa dying from malaria and vaccinating children against polio, but his visit to Capitol Hill Wednesday promises to be less collegial.

Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are set to question the founder of Microsoft about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein as part of the panel’s ongoing investigation into the late financier and convicted sex offender. In interviews over the past week, they are signaling their queries will be unsparing.

Photographs and emails disclosed by the Justice Department and the Epstein estate showed Gates and Epstein spent time together and corresponded. Gates has reportedly apologized to the staff of his philanthropic foundation, but he continues to chair it. He also still serves as an adviser to Microsoft, the software maker he founded and which made him the world’s richest man.

People who rely on his foundation have not cut ties, either, suggesting Gates’ wealth has shielded him from the reputational damage other Epstein associates have incurred. His closed-door testimony Wednesday will test whether he can keep it that way.

“It's obviously really, really troubling, and I'm somebody who believes that Bill Gates has done extraordinary philanthropic work around the world and truly life-saving work,” said Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), a member of the Oversight Committee. “But we obviously have to separate our feelings about that from this investigation, and those two things co-exist.”

The Gates Foundation, which Gates founded with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates in 2000, said in a statement that it commissioned an external review in March “to assess past foundation engagement with Epstein and evaluate our current policies for vetting and developing philanthropic partnerships.” The foundation board will receive an update on that review this summer.

“The safety and wellbeing of women and girls is core to the foundation's mission, which we remain fully committed to,” according to the statement.

A spokesperson for Gates said in April the billionaire philanthropist welcomed the chance 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 at the time.

Others tied to Epstein have been forced out of their jobs because of those very ties.

Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary when Barack Obama was president, quit his teaching post at Harvard after files released by the Department of Justice revealed he had asked Epstein for advice on conducting an affair with a woman he was mentoring.

Kathryn Ruemmler, who was Obama’s White House counsel, is set to resign her job as general counsel at the blue chip investment bank Goldman Sachs after the files revealed Epstein had lavished her with luxury gifts and that she considered him like an older brother.

And Brad Karp, one of America’s most prominent lawyers, stepped down from his position as chair of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison after it came out that he’d asked Epstein for help getting his son a job working with the filmmaker Woody Allen, another Epstein friend.

In interviews in advance of Gates’ Wednesday testimony, members of the House Oversight panel acknowledged the contributions facilitated by Gates or his foundation. But Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said the unseemly relationship between Gates and Epstein jeopardizes the global health philanthropist’s legacy, and the panel would not shy away from tough questions.

“To now have the namesake of the foundation — one of the namesakes — be involved potentially in the Epstein stuff … clearly casts a shadow on the organization,” he said Monday.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who worked with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to shepherd the legislation that required the Epstein files’ release, outlined several simple questions he had for the tech mogul.

“Did he ever go on the island? Did he know of other people who engaged in abusing or raping underage girls? Does he know anyone who was involved other than Epstein and Maxwell in the abuse?” said Khanna, ticking topics off his list.

Gates appears in several images and emails released from Epstein’s estate or the Justice Department made public. Two pictures show the global health philanthropist standing next to women whose identities have been obscured. Gates has said he posed with the women, who he said were Epstein employees, because Epstein asked him to.

Gates’ name is also mentioned in a document that appears to be an email Epstein sent himself, containing allegations that Epstein had to procure medicines for Gates after the latter got sexually transmitted diseases from Russian girls.

A spokesperson for Gates at the time said those claims were “absolutely absurd and completely false.” The spokesperson, who did not provide their name, said the document showed “Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”

In anticipation of a potentially hostile environment Wednesday, Gates has brought on the former chief investigations counsel for the Oversight Committee, Jake Greenberg, for advice, according to a person familiar with the hiring, granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The New York Times previously reported the hire.

Greenberg, who worked for Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), left for law firm DLA Piper months ago and a committee spokesperson said he hasn’t worked with the panel since.

The questions Gates gets from House Oversight members, however, could stand in stark contrast with the multiple international health and humanitarian organizations Gates supports financially, which have continued to stand by him.

Soon after the Trump administration cut billions in global health and foreign aid funding last year, the Microsoft founder promised to spend $200 billion over the next two decades to help care for and educate the world’s poorest, then close his foundation in 2045. Losing access to this money through the Gates Foundation, which remains the largest private source of global health funding, would be devastating.

“The Gates Foundation has been a longstanding supporter and partner of the global efforts to fight AIDS, [tuberculosis] and malaria over the past two decades,” the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said in a statement. “Our focus remains on delivering impact for the communities we serve and ensuring that all contributions are managed in accordance with the Global Fund's policies and procedures.”

The Geneva-based group is due to receive $912 million from Gates over the next three years.

Gavi, an international group which helps provide vaccines for children in poor countries, said in a statement that all its partnerships “are subject to due diligence and occur in compliance with Gavi’s strict ethics, risk and compliance policies.”

This includes, the group said, its “long-standing partnership with the Gates Foundation, whose support has been important in helping us to immunize over one billion children and halve mortality among children under five.”

The Gates Foundation last year pledged $1.6 billion for Gavi over the next five years.

And then there’s the United Nations Population Fund, which helps women in poor countries access contraceptives and works to end maternal deaths. It is due to receive $3.5 million from the Gates Foundation to help strengthen midwifery, improve access to medicines and supplies, and mobilize greater financing and political commitment in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tanzania.

The UNPFA, in a statement, called the Gates Foundation a “longstanding partner” in a statement, noting that it “provides generous financial and technical support for its work.”

The Gates Foundation has insisted it did not ultimately pursue any collaboration with Epstein, nor did it ever make any payments to him. But the outcome of Wednesday’s grilling could test the allegiances between humanitarian organizations and the Gates Foundation.

Massie said in an interview that Gates’ ties with Epstein should give people pause.

“What makes you think he's qualified to talk about any of our health policies nationally or globally?” Massie said.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who sits on the Oversight Committee, put it bluntly: “I don't trust Bill Gates as far as I can throw the dome off the Capitol.”