Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said on Wednesday that she asked House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) to subpoena Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates over his inclusion in the latest tranche of the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice last week.
The congresswoman’s request was influenced by an NPR podcast interview, in which Melinda French Gates addressed her ex-husband’s past ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Last night, I watched Melinda Gates interview. I immediately asked the chairman of oversight, James Comer, to subpoena, Bill Gates,” Mace posted on X. “I have questions for Bill Gates about Epstein.”
In an interview clip posted on Tuesday, French Gates expressed “unbelievable sadness” when asked about her feelings since the latest scandalous details involving her ex-husband came out. The couple divorced in 2021. Five years later, French Gates said she “had to leave” her marriage because of her ex-husband’s alleged sexual behavior.
“No girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him,” she said. “It’s beyond heartbreaking.”
“I remember being those ages those girls were. I remember my daughters being those ages,” she continued. “So for me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up because [it] brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.”
Like Mace, French Gates called on the Microsoft co-founder to answer “whatever questions remain” about Epstein’s inner circle.
“I’ve been able to move on in life, and I hope there’s some justice for those now-women,” she said. “What they went through is just unimaginable.”
The full interview will be released on Thursday on NPR’s Wild Card podcast.
Following his ex-wife’s comments, Gates addressed some of the allegations unveiled by the Epstein files in an interview with an Australian news service on Wednesday.
The billionaire philanthropist said he met Epstein in 2011 and frequently had dinner with the financier. While he said he never visited Epstein’s private island nor met “any women” under questionable circumstances, he admitted he was “foolish to spend time” with Epstein and regretted knowing him.
One of the newly released documents contained a strange email Epstein sent to himself. In the private correspondence from July 2013, he claimed to be resigning from “BG3” and the Gates Foundation because he had gotten “caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill.” The foundation said he was never employed there.
Epstein also made a series of allegations concerning Gates.
“In my role as his right hand I had been asked on mulitple occassion and in hindsight , wrongly acquiesced into participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate , to the ethically unsound and had been repeatedly asked to do other things that get near and potentially over the line into the illegal,” Epstein wrote.
“From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls , to facilictating his illicit trysts, with married women, to being asked to provide adderall,” he said.
Addressing that email, Gates said it was “false” and speculated that it may have been an attack against him. He insisted that he did not know why Epstein ever drafted the email.
Notably, Epstein also said he had known Gates as a friend for seven years, which conflicted Gates’s account that he first met Epstein only two years before the email was written. Spokespeople for Gates have repeatedly called Epstein a liar.
“These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false,” a Gates spokesperson told multiple media outlets. “The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”
CLINTONS DODGE CONTEMPT AND SET DATES TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
Neither Comer nor the House Oversight Committee has released a statement yet pertaining to Mace’s request about subpoenaing Gates.
However, the GOP chairman has succeeded in convincing former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify about their ties to Epstein later this month. Comer threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress after they skipped a deposition last month. Hillary and Bill Clinton are set to testify in closed-door interviews on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27, respectively.