Bill Gates to face Congress over Jeffrey Epstein links

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will give evidence to a US Congressional committee looking into the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Gates, who has faced backlash for his connections to Epstein, is expected to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 10.

He follows other prominent public figures who have spoken about their connections to the paedophile including Bill and Hilary Clinton, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Les Wexner.

It has been reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, billionaire Ted Waitt, Epstein’s former aide Lesley Groff, and Tova Noel, one of the jail guards on duty when Epstein died, will also be interviewed by the committee.

Mr Gates "welcomes the opportunity" to face questions, a spokesperson for the billionaire said.

They added: "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."

Following the publication of more than three million documents related to Epstein in January, Mr Gates told the Gates Foundation that he did "nothing illicit" with the late paedophile financier.

Speaking at the biannual Gates Foundation town hall meeting, the billionaire "spoke candidly" about the relationship and admitted to two affairs with Russian women.

He went on to apologise to foundation executives for introducing them to Epstein, saying: "To be clear, I never spent any time with victims or the women around him. It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein. I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made."

But he added: "I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit."

Discussing why he became friends with Epstein, Mr Gates said he was drawn in by his "talk about the kind of intimate relationship he had with a lot of billionaires, particularly Wall Street billionaires," which could help with his fundraising goals.

The charity founder went on to explain how he met the convicted sex offender in 2011, three years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida.

The tech entrepreneur said he had not looked into the paedophile’s background, but said his then-wife Melinda Gates had expressed concern about the financier in 2013.

But he ignored her caution and continued to see him socially.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Gates said: "Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behaviour."

He then went on to say he took trips on his private jet and spent time with him in Germany, France, New York, and Washington in 2014.

Mr Gates added that he "never stayed overnight" at his properties or visited Little St James, his now-notorious private Caribbean island.

He never saw Epstein after this, Gates claims, but there were "ancillary issues" that Epstein continued to email him about, which he did not respond to.

Mr Gates has not been accused of misconduct and his recent inclusion in the Epstein files does not imply any criminal activity.