{"id":335,"date":"2026-06-10T19:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=335"},"modified":"2026-06-10T19:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:10:43","slug":"bill-gates-says-epstein-tried-to-blackmail-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=335","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates Says Epstein Tried to Blackmail Him"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tech billionaire Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein tried to blackmail the Microsoft cofounder into a personal friendship, after Epstein learned Gates had been unfaithful in his marriage.<\/p>\n

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Gates told investigators working on the panel\u2019s Epstein probe on Wednesday that in 2014 he cut off his relationship with Epstein, who Gates saw at the time as a connection to wealthy donors for his philanthropic work. In response, Gates said, Epstein tried to pressure him into reconnecting.<\/p>\n

\u201cEpstein was working to use information about my infidelities \u2014 in addition to many lies<\/p>\n

that he layered on top \u2014 to pressure me to re-engage with him,\u201d Gates told the panel in his opening statement, obtained by NOTUS. \u201cHe was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congressional investigators say they are familiar with Epstein\u2019s pressure tactics. Democrats left the interview saying Epstein saw a vulnerability and tried to exploit it for his own gain..<\/p>\n

\u201c[Epstein] uses that over and over again,\u201d Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California), the top Democrat on the committee, told reporters. \u201cHe used it with women, he used it with those he employed, used it with other powerful men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gates was divorced from his longtime wife, Melinda, in 2021. The Wall Street Journal reported<\/u><\/span> last month that Gates told employees that allegations related to more than 20 affairs had come up during his divorce. And although Gates stepped down from Microsoft\u2019s board of directors in 2020, reports suggest<\/u><\/span> he is still very much involved in the tech giant.<\/p>\n

Gates, who appeared for the closed-door interview voluntarily, told the panel that he never witnessed or had any indication Epstein was involved in criminal conduct. He told lawmakers he never visited Epstein\u2019s island, ranch or home. In the opening statement, Gates apologized and said he \u201cshould never have met with Epstein in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Democrats on the committee told reporters during a break in the interview that Gates provided investigators with names of people who were \u201cin Mr. Epstein\u2019s orbit.\u201d Garcia said that includes former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who earlier this year resigned from Harvard after his name appeared hundreds of times in the release of the Epstein files.<\/p>\n

Garcia told reporters that Gates \u201cwas around people that were actually abused, and that was recognized in some of the discussions we had inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gates told lawmakers that he ceased the relationship with Epstein when he realized the potential group of donors that the convicted sex offender had brought together \u201cwere a dead-end.\u201d Still, Gates admitted that his relationship with Epstein spanned multiple years, beginning with a meeting in 2011. Democrats said the behavior is worrying.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of his answers show us that many of the men who engaged with Jeffrey Epstein only saw what they wanted to see with their interactions,\u201d Rep. Emily Randall (D-Washington) said.<\/p>\n

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Kentucky) said going into the interview that he wanted to know the specifics of Gates\u2019 relationship with Epstein and whether Gates knew what was going on.<\/p>\n

Gates is the latest high-profile name to sit for an interview in the congressional investigation into Epstein. Comer announced Wednesday that he was asking the Justice Department for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to speak with the panel in July. Democrats demanded that Blanche appear before the committee again after former Attorney General Pam Bondi told lawmakers last month that Blanche was in charge of the release of the Epstein files.<\/p>\n

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The tech billionaire told the House Oversight Committee that Epstein leveraged information about Gates\u2019 affairs to pressure him into a friendship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nBill Gates Says Epstein Tried to Blackmail Him - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=335\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Gates Says Epstein Tried to Blackmail Him - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The tech billionaire told the House Oversight Committee that Epstein leveraged information about Gates\u2019 affairs to pressure him into a friendship.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=335\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-10T19:10:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Bill Gates Says Epstein Tried to Blackmail Him\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T19:10:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335\"},\"wordCount\":638,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a324feb05200d24dc1926e0b11cb56dd-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335\",\"name\":\"Bill Gates Says Epstein Tried to Blackmail Him - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a324feb05200d24dc1926e0b11cb56dd-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T19:10:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=335#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a324feb05200d24dc1926e0b11cb56dd-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a324feb05200d24dc1926e0b11cb56dd-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, arrives on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Washington, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. 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