标签： North America

One of the world’s most recognizable tech billionaires and philanthropists, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, will appear Wednesday before a U.S. congressional committee to answer long-simmering questions about his past connections to deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The interview marks the latest chapter in the ongoing fallout from the 2026 release of more than three million pages of court documents related to Epstein’s federal criminal investigation, where Gates’ name appears thousands of times.

Gates has confirmed his appearance is voluntary, and in a public statement, he said he welcomes the chance to address the House Oversight Committee’s questions about his relationship with the disgraced financier. Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges; his long-time accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in his criminal ring.

The recently unsealed documents from the U.S. Department of Justice have reignited public and congressional scrutiny of Gates’ ties to Epstein. Among the released materials are multiple undated photos: one captures Gates standing near an aircraft alongside Epstein’s pilot, while others show Gates posing with his arm around Epstein alongside several unidentified women. The documents also include a series of draft emails allegedly written by Epstein that make multiple unsubstantiated, disputed claims about Gates’ personal life. These include allegations that Epstein arranged secret affairs for Gates with married women, that Gates contracted a sexually transmitted infection from women Epstein connected him to, that Epstein helped Gates obtain medication to treat the infection, and that Gates attempted to secretly give antibiotics to his then-wife Melinda to prevent her from contracting the infection. Gates has forcefully denied all of these unproven claims, but he has publicly admitted to having had extramarital affairs with two Russian women.

Gates’ core public defense of his relationship with Epstein has framed their association as strictly transactional: he has said the pair connected in 2011, three years after Epstein’s Florida conviction for soliciting prostitution involving a minor, to discuss potential philanthropic funding for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates has repeatedly stated no such funding ever materialized, and that he cut off all contact with Epstein in 2014. He has also repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s illegal activities, though he has publicly acknowledged he made a terrible mistake in ever meeting with Epstein. “I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him,” Gates said earlier this year. “Every minute I spent with him I regret.”

Lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee have laid out three core lines of questioning they plan to pursue during Wednesday’s interview. First, they will challenge Gates’ claim that he was unaware of the full extent of Epstein’s criminal past even as the pair maintained contact years after his conviction. Committee Democrat Robert Garcia noted last week that Gates continued interacting with Epstein even after basic information about Epstein’s horrific crimes was already public, saying “we want to ask Mr. Gates, why continue that relationship? Who else did he see? What else might he know? And who else should we be bringing in to ask questions of?”

Lawmakers also plan to press Gates on why he maintained a years-long relationship with Epstein when no philanthropic funding ever materialized from their discussions— a timeline that stretches far longer than would be expected for a failed funding pitch. Additionally, the committee will investigate whether Epstein sought to leverage his connection to Gates, one of the most connected and influential figures in global public life, to advance and protect his illegal criminal enterprise. The committee has stated it believes Gates has key insight into how Epstein and Maxwell cultivated powerful connections to shield their crimes.

Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, another Democratic member of the committee, told the BBC that investigators specifically want to know if Epstein attempted to blackmail Gates, as he is alleged to have done with other high-profile associates. Epstein was known to meticulously document his relationships with powerful figures, keeping detailed records of meetings, personal information, and embarrassing personal details that could be used for leverage. While there is no concrete evidence of blackmail against Gates to date, the unproven claims about Gates’ personal life contained in Epstein’s documents raise questions about potential leverage. The Gates Foundation has previously confirmed that a small number of its staff interacted with Epstein at Gates’ direction to explore potential philanthropic funding for global health initiatives, but that no collaboration was ever finalized and the foundation regrets any contact with the disgraced financier.

The interview comes as congressional investigators continue to unpack the full scope of Epstein’s network of powerful connections, years after his death brought an end to any criminal prosecution of the financier himself.

A series of high-stakes U.S. Senate and congressional primary elections across four states have wrapped up, reshaping the battlefield for November’s critical midterm contests that will ultimately decide partisan control of Congress for the final stretch of Donald Trump’s presidential term. In the most closely watched upset, political novice Graham Platner – an oyster farmer and retired combat Marine who has never held public office – secured the Democratic Party’s Senate nomination in Maine, overcoming a string of damaging scandals to set up a generational showdown against long-serving Republican incumbent Susan Collins this fall.

Endorsed by high-profile independent Senator Bernie Sanders, Platner’s path to the nomination was far from smooth. His campaign was nearly derailed early on when reports emerged of a tattoo bearing a striking resemblance to a Nazi symbol. Platner quickly issued a public apology, claiming he had no knowledge of the symbol’s hateful origins, but the controversy still sparked widespread accusations of antisemitism, even from his own former political director. Later, additional scandals emerged: old online comments dismissing sexual assault were unearthed by media outlets, and reports detailed allegations of marital infidelity. Despite these headwinds, Platner’s campaign received a pivotal boost when popular Democratic Governor Janet Mills opted to exit the primary race, clearing a path for the non-traditional candidate to consolidate support from progressive and working-class voters. Platner’s candid, down-to-earth messaging – which centered on his lived experience with post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service and the economic challenges facing small business owners – resonated with a Democratic electorate increasingly open to backing outsiders over establishment politicians.

Come November, Platner will face off against Collins, who has represented Maine in the U.S. Senate for nearly 30 years. Collins has carved out a reputation as a moderate Republican over her career, drawing the ire of Trump’s conservative base in 2021 when she voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial. In recent years, however, she has shifted closer to the former president, playing a key role in advancing his judicial and executive nominee confirmations.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina’s Republican Senate primary, veteran incumbent Lindsey Graham fended off a hardline primary challenge from wealthy businessman Mark Lynch, who self-funded his campaign and attacked Graham for insufficient loyalty to Trump’s policy agenda. Lynch leaned on old 2016 footage of Graham praising President Joe Biden and criticizing Trump to bolster his case, and received backing from former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene, the ex-Georgia congresswoman who split with Trump over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and disputes over his commitment to the America First movement. Graham’s longstanding hawkish stance on Iran – a position that has seen him call for U.S. military intervention in the country for years – also made him a target of anti-interventionist America First critics, as tensions between the U.S. and Iran remain heightened. Still, Graham held onto his nomination, extending his decades-long career in Washington.

In Nevada, Republicans are locked in a competitive primary race for an open congressional seat that has not been vacant in 15 years, following the retirement of the district’s long-serving incumbent. The contest has come down to two candidates: a political novice endorsed by Trump, and former state senator James Settelmeyer, with both candidates spending months competing to prove their unwavering loyalty to Trump’s policy agenda. Primary contests also concluded in North Dakota, where voters finalized their respective party nominees for November’s general election. Across all four states, the outcomes have set the stage for a fiercely contested midterm cycle, with control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives hanging in the balance, and the balance of power during Trump’s remaining term in office on the line for voters.

After seven days of ongoing ballot counting from California’s June 2 gubernatorial primary, US media projections have confirmed that Steve Hilton, a former senior advisor to ex-United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron and one-time Fox News host, will advance to the November general election as one of the two remaining candidates.

Hilton narrowly bested Democratic billionaire climate campaigner Tom Steyer to claim his place on the general election ballot. He will now face off against Xavier Becerra, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Biden administration, for California’s top executive office this fall.

The candidacy has earned the public backing of former President Donald Trump. Should Hilton claim victory in November, he will become the first Republican governor to lead the heavily Democratic-leaning state in 15 years, marking a major political shift for California.

The primary race drew an unprecedentedly large field of more than 60 candidates, the vast majority of whom were Democrats vying to replace incumbent Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who is barred from seeking re-election due to state term limits. Newsom, who has long been named as a potential Democratic contender for future presidential campaigns, built a high-profile profile as one of the most prominent critics of Trump’s policy agenda during his tenure. California repeatedly clashed with the Trump White House over a sweeping range of policy issues, from immigration regulation to environmental and climate action.

Over the coming months, Hilton and Becerra will campaign across the state, competing to win the governorship — a role that carries responsibility for managing a state budget worth hundreds of billions of dollars, supervising a workforce of tens of thousands of public employees, and overseeing hundreds of separate state agencies that touch nearly every aspect of life for California’s 39 million residents.

On the eve of Maine’s critical Democratic Senate primary, first-time candidate Graham Platner stood before hundreds of supporters at a Portland town hall, visibly emotional after receiving a handcrafted card emblazoned with the message “We are your Graham-ily, and we’ve got your back.” The moment capped a turbulent week for the political outsider, who had been hit by a string of damaging national investigative reports exposing a pattern of controversial behavior that would have ended the campaigns of most conventional politicians. Yet for the loyal base that has propelled his unlikely rise, none of the scandals have shaken their commitment.

Platner’s path to the primary has been anything but smooth. Over the past several months, controversies have mounted: a chest tattoo resembling a Nazi-era Totenkopf symbol, unearthed 14-year-old online comments dismissing personal responsibility for rape survivors, leaked allegations of infidelity during his early marriage, and most recently, accusations from three former girlfriends of violent, erratic emotional abuse. His former campaign chief of staff penned a scathing Washington Post op-ed warning that Platner “exhibits a pattern of dishonest behavior that is impossible to ignore,” and a recent poll from the opposing campaign shows his unfavorable rating among Maine voters has jumped 20 points to 49% following the latest allegations.

But what has made Platner’s campaign a political phenomenon is his ability to retain support despite the growing baggage, a reflection of both Maine’s unique political culture and the deep anger of rank-and-file Democratic voters toward the national establishment. A former Marine Corps combat veteran turned oyster farmer and small business owner, Platner has cut a relatable figure, touring the state in jeans and a baseball cap, speaking openly about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and his family’s journey with infertility. By his own count, he has hosted more than 80 town halls across the sparsely populated state, where face-to-face retail politics still holds enormous sway. His anti-elite, anti-lobbyist message and left-leaning policy platform — which echoes progressives like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling for universal healthcare, free college, and a wealth tax on the ultra-wealthy — has tapped into a deep well of frustration with business-as-usual Washington politics.

His rise has already upended the state’s Democratic race: party establishment favorite Governor Janet Mills was pressured by national leaders to enter the race, but she dropped out earlier this spring after falling far behind in fundraising and polling, stunned by Platner’s early viral momentum. Even some voters who acknowledge discomfort with Platner’s past say they have no choice but to back him to defeat long-serving Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who has held the seat for three decades. “I would vote for him exclusively to keep Susan Collins from winning,” explained Portland voter Ann Oliver, echoing a sentiment shared by many anti-Collins Democrats who prioritize party control over candidate perfection.

The outcome of Tuesday’s primary carries national stakes. A Platner victory would leave the pivotal general election race in play, with control of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance. National Democrats fear a repeat of the Tea Party era, where grassroots enthusiasm elevated unelectable candidates that cost the party winnable seats. If Platner wins, he will face off against Collins, a formidable moderate Republican with deep Maine roots, a $20 million campaign war chest, and a history of winning over cross-party voters in a state that has not backed a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. Collins’ operation is already preparing to flood the airwaves with negative ads focusing on Platner’s scandals, while national Republicans have already called his candidacy a gift that could help them hold the seat.

Yet for his supporters, Platner’s authenticity outweighs any past missteps. “He’s got a little bit of baggage, but who gives a shit? He is a saint here to me,” said Kevin Claik, a retiree who drove 48 kilometers to attend Sunday’s town hall. Autumn Crisovan, a Portland recreational sports worker who opposes lobbyist influence in politics, said Platner’s grassroots campaign signals a much-needed shift for the country: “It’s nice to see there are people who are trying to fight and that it gets the ball rolling for everyone else.”

Platner has leaned into the anti-establishment framing, echoing the scandal-resilience playbook that worked for Donald Trump, framing the attacks as a coordinated effort by elite media and party insiders to defeat the people’s candidate. “What everybody fails to understand is they think this is a race about me,” he told supporters Sunday night. “What they don’t understand is this is a race about us. It’s about the people of Maine. It’s about the recognition that only in each other, only in our communities, do we find the power necessary to take back our politics.”

Political analysts note that Platner’s working-class, rugged nonconformist image resonates deeply with rural Maine voters, a demographic that has drifted toward Republicans in recent presidential elections that Platner could potentially flip. “He is straight out of central casting for a firebrand politician who doesn’t take any bullshit,” noted Colby College political science professor Nick Jacobs. “There is a deep connection to place that seems genuine, because it is quite pervasive throughout his style and substance.”

Platner has attempted to frame past controversies as stories of redemption, apologizing for each misstep: he removed the Nazi-resembling tattoo, explaining he got it drunk on vacation with fellow Marines without knowing its meaning; he asked voters to forgive his old rape comments as the words of a younger man on his worst day; and he acknowledged his past infidelity, saying he and his wife have worked through the issue and strengthened their marriage. Even some national progressives have stood by him, though with caveats: California Congressman Ro Khanna, who campaigned with Platner last week, acknowledged the abuse allegations were “wrong, was misogynistic, was toxic or volatile” but said Platner has expressed shame for his actions.

As Maine voters head to the polls Tuesday, the race remains unresolved, with national political observers watching closely to see if a political novice with a long list of scandals can pull off an upset that would reshape the balance of power in Washington for years to come.