Bill Gates testified Wednesday in a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — while lawmakers from both parties questioned why the billionaire’s testimony wasn’t public.
The private session came weeks after Epstein’s alleged victims testified publicly before the same committee on May 13. Sarah Kellen, Epstein’s former personal assistant, also testified in a closed-door deposition May 22.
“Let’s be really clear, we want public hearings, we want these video taped, we want them under oath, we want these released to the American public.”
Democratic California Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, told the Daily Caller News Foundation his side wanted the Gates testimony open to the public.
“But that’s a decision that Chairman [James] Comer and the majority get to make by being in the majority, and we think it’s very unfortunate. We should be opening these to the American public,” Garcia said.
🚨🚨 Oversight Ranking member @RobertGarcia tells me his side wanted the Bill Gates testimony to be open to the public @DailyCallerpic.twitter.com/Oc7uW19uGk
— Nicole Silverio (@NicoleMSilverio) June 10, 2026
Republican Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett said both parties agreed the hearings should be “wide open” to the public, but added the decision was “above my pay grade.”
“I’m about transparency, I always say let it be wide open,” Burchett told the DCNF.
🚨 @timburchett took our questions outside where Bill Gates is testifying. He believed the hearing should have been “wide open” to public
Watch here 👇@DailyCallerpic.twitter.com/xxHhLM28H0
— Nicole Silverio (@NicoleMSilverio) June 10, 2026
Burchett told reporters Gates appeared “very worn down and stressed” during questioning.
An Oversight Committee spokesperson defended the closed-door format, saying depositions “provide the committee with more in depth, sustained questioning in order to gather the facts.” The committee has conducted 15 interviews as part of its Epstein investigation and releases full transcripts after each session.
Gates hired Jake Greenberg — who until December was spearheading the committee’s Epstein inquiry — to prepare him for the testimony, according to The New York Times. The arrangement raised eyebrows among government ethics experts over potential conflicts of interest.
The Department of Justice released more than 3 million Epstein files earlier this year, disclosing Gates’ previous friendship with the disgraced financier. The files included references to two scheduled meetings between the men and an alleged sexually transmitted disease Gates contracted from Russian prostitutes.
In a July 18, 2013 email draft, Epstein wrote that he urged Gates to delete emails regarding the alleged STD and claimed he sought antibiotics to secretly give to Gates’ then-wife, Melinda.
A separate email draft appeared to show Epstein announcing his resignation from the Gates Foundation, claiming he helped Gates “get drugs” to “deal with consequences of sex with [R]ussian girls.”
Gates told 9 News Australia in February he never went to Epstein’s island or met with any women. He acknowledged meeting with Epstein in 2011 and maintaining a relationship for three years — all after Epstein had served time for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“It’s factually true that I was only at dinners. I never went to the island, I never met any women and the more that comes out, the more clear it’ll be that although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior,” Gates said.
