In a closed-door interview transcript released by the House Oversight Committee, Bill Gates said he never interacted with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims and denied witnessing sexual misconduct, but acknowledged he may have been “in the presence of victims” after se
When Bill Gates walked through the windowless routine of Capitol Hill this month, he told investigators the same core story: his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was professional, and he never witnessed or took part in any sexual misconduct.
In a transcript of his voluntary interview with the House Oversight Committee released Tuesday, Gates said he never interacted with Epstein’s victims. He also maintained that his three-year relationship with the convicted sex offender was strictly business.
But the testimony also leaves a bruise of uncertainty—one lawmakers pressed into, again and again. Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia pointed to findings from the committee’s investigation showing that some of Epstein’s employees were also abused by Epstein. Gates, in response, did not make it cleanly disappear.
“That’s a very good point,” Gates said, acknowledging he saw some of Epstein’s female employees at the end of a meeting on one of Epstein’s planes. He added, “I may have been in the presence of victims.”
That moment matters because Gates’ denials hinge on what he saw, what he didn’t, and what he could credibly rule out. The committee sought his testimony after additional Epstein files were released by the Justice Department this year and raised questions about his ties to the late financier.
In the same closed-door testimony, Gates described how Epstein tried to use information about his personal life to pressure him. Gates testified that Epstein attempted to leverage the fact that Gates had been unfaithful in his marriage.
After Gates said he cut ties with Epstein in 2014. Gates recalled an episode in which Epstein emailed asking for “reimbursement” for expenses Epstein said he had paid for related to a woman Gates had an affair with. Gates told investigators he responded through his business chain. “I communicated to my key person. top person at Gates Ventures. Larry Cohen. that we were never going to pay anything. ” Gates testified.
The transcript also shows how Gates’ relationship began—and how investigators tried to connect it to other alleged behavior. Gates said he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 through one of his most trusted employees, Dr. Boris Nikolic. Gates believes Nikolic told Epstein about two of Gates’ extramarital affairs.
Behind closed doors, Gates was pressed on whether he had any other ties to Epstein. Gates and his legal team pushed back, pointing to draft emails that Epstein appears to have written to himself in 2013. Gates argued those drafts included a series of graphic. unverified allegations against him and that Epstein would have mentioned any additional affairs there if they existed.
“I think that Epstein. when he was writing emails to himself. took every potential negative thing he knew. and some that are completely false. and he put those into draft emails to himself. ” Gates said. “And so I think if in some weird way he discovered anything negative to say about me. we would have seen that in the emails that he sent to himself.”.
In those draft notes, Gates described Epstein’s stream-of-consciousness claims—claims Gates says are false—that Epstein facilitated sexual encounters for Gates and helped him obtain medication to hide a sexually transmitted infection from his wife.
Gates told lawmakers, “I never had an STD,” but he also said it was “possible” he told Nikolic that he was worried he might have had one.
Gates told the committee that when he met Epstein in 2011, he was aware Epstein had a “criminal conviction” that was “of a sexual nature.” Still, Gates said he pursued the relationship professionally because Epstein claimed he could raise billions of dollars for global health.
Even so, Gates said he regrets that he didn’t weigh Epstein’s reputation more heavily before continuing. “I have regret that I didn’t factor that in to a greater degree,” Gates testified.
He also said Epstein tried to invite him to his island or social functions. but Gates consciously avoided crossing that line because of the criminal conviction. The transcript reflects that careful boundary—but also the challenge of proving negative in cases where proximity can be enough to complicate intent.
Gates told the committee he finds it “confusing” how Epstein accumulated his wealth, and he described Epstein’s New York City apartment as one of the most “spacious” homes in Manhattan he has seen.
In another detail that the committee sought to document, Gates said he voluntarily cooperated with the attorney general of the US Virgin Islands by sitting for an interview and providing some financial documents, though he did not specify when.
A second released transcript added its own pressure to the record. Tuesday’s documents also included the transcript of Lesley Groff, Epstein’s longtime assistant, who characterized Epstein as a “master manipulator” and said she did not know about his crimes.
Groff told lawmakers she connected Epstein and President Donald Trump—then a private citizen—on the phone multiple times over a period of 10 years. but she said she did not know the content of those conversations. Trump has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein, as well as any allegations of sexual misconduct.
Groff’s testimony, however, quickly met condemnation from survivors. She described herself as believing everyone she scheduled Epstein for—a massage—was a massage therapist, and she said she considered it to be an “independent contractor type of situation.”
Groff said she stopped regularly booking those massage appointments for Epstein in 2008, when he served about a year in jail in Florida. Democrats on the committee pointed to other appointments after 2008 that Groff booked.
Pressed on that timeline, Groff defended her understanding. “I would not have known that this was a massage. I don’t know — you’re assuming that I would think it was a massage, but I did not think of it as a massage,” she testified.
For Gates, the committee’s questioning distilled into a simple human problem: if employees were abused, the difference between “never interacting” and “being nearby” becomes the kind of detail that can’t be tidied away with a blanket denial.
For Groff, the same problem surfaced in a different shape—when survivors see scheduling as involvement, explanations about what she believed she was arranging take on a heavier weight.
Gates and Groff did not comment publicly in response to the release; CNN said it reached out to representatives for both for comment.
The House Oversight Committee’s investigation continues, with the transcript now placing Gates’ testimony on the same ledger as questions the committee says remain unanswered—questions that begin with proximity, understanding, and what each person can honestly say they knew.
Bill Gates Jeffrey Epstein House Oversight Committee Lesley Groff transcript Epstein victims Capitol Hill Larry Cohen Dr. Boris Nikolic Donald Trump US Virgin Islands attorney general