There have been a lot of questions hanging out in the wind about the relationship between Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, chief among them was why he met with Epstein many times after he’d already pled guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
As we previously reported, it even was a feature in his divorce with his wife Melinda, who reportedly had issues with those contacts.
So we have to give it up to PBS’s Judy Woodruff for actually grilling Gates on this during an interview, although I would have asked some follow-ups to things left hanging in the air.
Gates was a fumbling mess in response, trying to pawn it off on meeting with him about issues of “global health.”
“It was reported that you continued to meet with him over several years, and that — in other words, a number of meetings,” Woodruff said “What did you do when you found out about his background?”
“Well, I have said I regretted having those dinners. And there’s nothing, absolutely nothing new on that,” Gates replied.
Exactly, there’s nothing new because you haven’t really explained what was going on there. This is the Obama defense tactic: Avoid questions as much as you can and then say “Well, that’s old news and nothing more to say.”
He doesn’t say who Epstein’s contacts supposedly were or why he kept seeing him. How long would it take to find out there were no “results” produced for his “global health” interests?
“Is there a lesson for you, for anyone else looking at this?” Woodruff inquired. Then Gates gives just an incredibly creepy answer.
“Well, he’s dead,” Gates said, with shifting eyes and a little smirk. “So, in general, you always have to be careful.”
“I’m very proud of what we have done in philanthropy,” Gates said trying to redirect away from Epstein. “Very proud of the work of the Foundation. That’s what I get up every day and focus on.”
Yikes, how uncomfortable was that? What kind of an answer is that? Maximum cringe! Epstein is dead, so now he can’t say anything about what we were meeting about, so it’s all cool now? Is the lesson if someone dies under suspicious circumstances, he can’t talk about any of his contacts? Is that what he’s saying here? Let’s just say the squirming and the smirking accompanying the dodging of the questions did not come off well, and that’s putting it mildly. None of this looks good for him. So if he was hoping to put all the questions to rest, he certainly didn’t do it with this effort.