US Representative Nancy Mace has called for Bill Gates to testify under oath on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Oversight Committee. The Republican Party member who has repeatedly expressed her disdain for Epstein-related crimes, citing her own personal trauma as a sexual assault survivor.

On Wednesday, Mace publicly called out the Microsoft founder in an official tweet, demanding accountability in case the billionaire tech mogul also participated in nefarious deeds the convicted paedophile was part of before his death in a prison cell in 2019.

Gates’ side has repeatedly denied allegations that he went to Epstein’s private island, where girls and young women are alleged to have been abused. While most statements have been issued by his office in the past, the 70-year-old billionaire remained silent on the issue until now.

On Wednesday, the same day as Mace’s post, he finally broke his silence on an Australian television channel to deny claims made about him in the latest trove of Epstein Files exposed by the Department of Justice on January 30.

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Disclaimer: Mere naming of a person in the emails or Epstein Files does not mean any proof of malice. These emails have been accessed from the official sources released by US government online.

Demands for Bill Gates to testify in Epstein scandal

Taking to her official X account on Wednesday, the Republican wrote, “3 million pages of Epstein documents were just released by the DOJ and the allegations are SICK. If these allegations are false, Bill Gates should have no problem saying so under oath before Congress.”

“Nobody is above the law. Not billionaires. Not the powerful. Nobody.”

Mace also shared the picture of an official letter she sent to James Comer, the Chairman of Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Therein, she requested Comer to issue a subpoena to Gates to appear before the Committee to give his testimony.

“Bill Gates has publicly acknowledged he had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, while claiming this relationship was limited to several dinners in which he was seeking funding for global health philanthropy from Epstein. However, emails in the Epstein files shed doubt on whether this is truly the full extent of their relationship,” she added in the letter.

Bill Gates breaks silence on Epstein controversy

Speaking out on Australia’s channel 9News on Wednesday, Gates slammed the “false” claims made about him. In reference to the recently unveiled email from 2013 that alleged he tried to give his ex-wife Melinda Gates drugs, the Microsoft founder suggested that Epstein was trying to export or defame him.

“Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is false,” Gates said. “I don’t know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way? Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologise that I did that.”

He further told 9News that he met Epstein in 2011 and had dinner with him on several occasions. Gates asserted that all these encounters were restricted to them discussing investments in scientific ventures.

“The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end,” he added. “I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him. The more that comes out, the more clear it will be that, although the time was a mistake, it has nothing to do with that kind of behaviour.”

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Melinda Gates on Epstein scandal

Bill’s remarks, in turn, followed his ex-wife’s NPR interview on Tuesday. Clarifying her disapproval of his ties with Epstein, Melinda French Gates told the network’s Wild Card podcast, “For me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.”

“Whatever questions remain there of what – I can’t even begin to know all of it – those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me.”

Bill and Melinda Gates’ marriage ended in a 2021 divorce. While her NPR interaction will be released in full on Thursday, she echoed similar sentiments in a 2022 interview. At the time, she said that she’d made it clear to Gates that she didn’t like his meetings with Epstein.

Opening up about having crossed paths with the sex offender once, she said, ““I regretted it the second I walked in the door… He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. My heart breaks for these women.”

Bill Gates mention in Epstein Files – New revelations

As per the Epstein Files released by DOJ on Jan 30, Epstein sent an email to himself in July 2013, making it seem as if the notes were written by Gates’ longtime science advisor, Boris Nikolic.

Therein, he suggested that Nikolic was resigning from his position in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation over the Microsoft founder’s “morally inappropriate” behaviour. Writing in Nikolic’s voice, Epstein alleged that Gates had contracted a sexually transmitted disease from one of his “illicit trysts” and extra-marital affairs while he was still married to Melinda.

Posing as Nikolic, Epstein wrote elsewhere that Gates had allegedly made requests demanding “antibiotics” he could “surreptitiously give to Melinda” so that she could avoid being infected as well.