The thing about Bill Gates is that he’s smart enough and rich enough to hire the best lawyers, best publicists and best crisis managers to help him manage his current crisis. The other thing about Bill Gates is that he was stupid enough to compulsively cheat on his wife with dozens of women and stupid enough to get involved with Jeffrey Epstein after Epstein’s sweetheart plea deal and house arrest. The dichotomy of man in a nutshell. So, Gates had months of lead time to get his story straight, and on Wednesday, he appeared before a closed-door session of the House Oversight Committee, where he was asked about his extensive connections to Epstein. Bill’s team worked long and hard to come up with some reasonable explanations for all of it. Blackmail! Falsified kompromat! Only three years of contact! Bill was slow to realize the extent to which Epstein was trying to use him! Sure, Jan.

Bill Gates said he told members of the House Oversight Committee during closed-door testimony on Wednesday, June 10, that Jeffrey Epstein tried to blackmail him over his infidelity to his then-wife, Melinda French Gates.

“I learned Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage. These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family,” the billionaire Microsoft co-founder said in his opening statement amid the committee’s ongoing Epstein investigation, according to a copy of Gates’ planned remarks that he also shared online.

“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 re-engage with him,” Gates said he told lawmakers. “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 said he “should never have met with Epstein” — whose vast network of influential friends and associates has drawn scrutiny in recent years — and reiterated that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct,” echoing his past statements about their relationship. Gates noted that he never went to Epstein’s infamous island, his Florida home or ranch.

“I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated,” he insisted. Gates, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has repeatedly apologized for having spent time with Epstein and has said that he met with the convicted sex offender solely to obtain support for his global health philanthropy.

“I was introduced to Epstein in 2011 through people I trusted in my professional and philanthropic work,” Gates, 70, said. “Epstein claimed he could raise billions of dollars for global health from people for whom he provided tax and estate services.”

Gates admitted to some naiveté regarding Epstein. He said he was initially “aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed. I accepted the introduction without applying the scrutiny I should have.” He said he and Epstein were connected for a handful of years, starting with “preliminary meetings” three times in 2011 and twice in 2012, where he talked about the “goals” of his work.

“We began more extensive conversations in 2013 and 2014,” Gates added. “The discussions focused on identifying potential giving structures, such as donor-advised funds, and how to enroll individuals he claimed were interested in making significant contributions. I made it clear to Epstein from the outset that he would never play a role in any of the work or receive any compensation.”

But in 2014, Gates said that after “Epstein brought together a group he described as potential donors, I realized that our prior discussions — which should have translated into meaningful philanthropic support — were a dead-end… It was clear that no one in the group was interested enough to move forward,” Gates said. “At that point, I concluded Epstein would never deliver on his promises. I told him we would go no further and stopped communicating or meeting with him. No vehicle for charitable giving was ever created and no funds were raised.”

He said their interactions ended in December 2014 — “four years before new reports in the press and unsealed court documents shed light on the extent of his crimes.”

“It was during the same time period that an employee was in the process of transitioning out of my private office. This employee engaged Epstein to negotiate and advise him on the terms of the separation. I did not ask — nor did I want or need — Epstein to be involved in this matter,” Gates added.

[From People]

You can read more of Gates’ statements at People Magazine. At one point, he claimed that Epstein had basically taken advantage of Gates’ laser-like focus on global health, saying in part, “I was so focused on the possibility of raising funds for global health that I allowed that goal to override my better judgment. That is a sobering realization, and it has reinforced for me the importance of being more attentive to how access and reputation can be manipulated by people acting in bad faith.” Gates was a shallow youth in his 50s when he was seemingly manipulated by a PDFile conman for years! When Melinda was divorcing Bill, she said she was quite open about how Epstein disgusted her, and she spoke of her disgust to her husband. Certainly, a billionaire like Bill Gates would have ample senior staff capable of running thorough background checks on his potential associates as well. That’s one of the reasons why Bill’s narrative falls apart. Sure, maybe he was “conned” – but he was surrounded by people who didn’t fall for Epstein’s con or whose job it was to protect their boss from sleazy PDFile con men. How in the world did it take three years for the veil to be lifted? Or maybe it was something else entirely. Once you start pulling at these strings, it’s difficult to believe a lot of Bill’s excuses.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.