1. This excuse has never held up.

Let's pretend for a moment that Epstein hadn't been a convicted sex offender.

Even then, there would be no excuse for Gates to meet with Epstein as many times as he did.

Bill Gates is the most powerful individual in global philanthropy. https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1391451771516588032

2. Bill Gates has presidential level power in the sense there's no expert he can't get on the phone. There's no world leader he can't get on the phone. He can move mountains.

Jeffrey Epstein wasn't engaging in anything that would normally be of interest to the Gates Foundation.

3. But even if Epstein had been doing things that were of interest to the Gates Foundation, Gates didn't need him. And knowing what I know about how Gates allocates his time (very carefully), giving multiple meetings to Epstein for philanthropy just doesn't add up.

4. The other thing that doesn't add up is Gates getting a ride on Epstein's jet in March 2013 from NJ to Palm Beach (per NYT).

Gates has several private jets of his own (not Microsofts).

At the time he accepted the ride from Epstein, Gates was Chairman of Microsoft's board.

5. Some public companies often have rules for their CEOs that they must always fly on company aircraft for security and accessibility reasons, I've never seen those rules apply to board chairman, but it's just a bizarre situation.

6. Epstein's jets were old and smaller than Gates. Again, I wouldn't accept Epstein hoping on one of Gates' jets but it would certainly make more sense than Gates hoping on Epstein's jet.

It's all very, very suspicious.