Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the top Democrat on the oversight committee, told MS Now that as part of his testimony, Gates described dinners and meetings he attended related to Epstein and maintained that he was not involved with any of the late disgraced sex offender’s wrongdoing. Gates also discussed his knowledge of Epstein’s associates, with Garcia mentioning Larry Summers, the former Harvard president who stepped down after he appeared in troves of Epstein-related documents.At one point, Gates testified that Epstein used his infidelity to his wife Melinda Gates to try to keep their relationship intact.
“As the public can now see, based on what has been released in the files, Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities — in addition to many lies that he layered on top — to pressure me to reengage with him,” Gates said in his opening remarks. “He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”
Gates has acknowledged his relationship with Epstein, saying the two had met on multiple occasions after Epstein pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2008, but said the meetings with Epstein were related to philanthropic discussions. While Gates has maintained his claim that he “saw nothing illicit” when it came to his relationship with Epstein, the tech mogul apologized to his staff earlier this year for associating with the sex offender.
