House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said he has asked Bill Gates and six others to testify as part of the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Gates has said he met Epstein in 2011 and believed the financier could help connect him with wealthy donors for his global health initiatives.
Gates’ name and images of him have appeared in Justice Department records released after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Being named in the documents or pictured with Epstein does not by itself establish that Gates knew about or participated in any crimes.
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Gates has repeatedly said he had no involvement in Epstein’s criminal activity and has expressed regret over associating with him.
In an interview earlier this year, Gates said he never visited Epstein’s private island and never met any women connected to the late financier.
Along with Gates, Comer said the committee has asked Kathryn Ruemmler, Leon Black, Lesley Groff, Sarah Kellen, Ted Waitt and Doug Band to testify.
"Some of the most powerful people in the world who have been named in the Epstein files, we're going to bring them all in," Comer said on Fox News on Tuesday.
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Comer has not said if he has received a response from any of the individuals who have been asked to testify.
The House Oversight Committee has launched a broad investigation into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, examining their network of contacts and any potential failures that may have enabled their crimes.
Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking and other charges.
