In a new interview, Bill Gates awkwardly pushed back against any suggestion that his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was more than a few dinners.

Gates was interviewed Monday on the Australian Broadcasting Corp.’s show ā€œ7.30.ā€

ā€œDo you regret the relationship that you maintained with him against Melinda’s advice and wishes?ā€ interviewer Sarah Ferguson asked, referring to the software billionaire’s former wife.

ā€œYou’re going way back in time,ā€ Gates said in response.

ā€œI will say for the over a 100th time, yeah, I shouldn’t have had dinners with him,ā€ Gates said.

ā€œEpstein had a way of sexually compromising people.Ā Is that what Melinda was warning you about?ā€ Ferguson asked.

ā€œNo, I mean, it’s — no, I had dinner with him and that’s all,ā€ Gates said.

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Asked if he regretted the relationship, the Microsoft co-founder replied, ā€œThat I had dinner with him.ā€

When asked about a connection between Epstein and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates said, ā€œThere never was any relationship of any kind.ā€

Many on Twitter reacted to the interview with disbelief.

Gates has said before that his interaction with Epstein was minimal in spite of a May 2021 report by The Daily BeastĀ that the two met often between 2011 and 2014.

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Judy Woodruff of PBS honed in on theĀ relationship when she interviewed him, wondering what a billionaire could have wanted from a man who, at the time they met, had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from minors.

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ā€œYou know, I had dinners with him. I regret doing that,ā€ Gates said. ā€œHe had relationships with people he said, you know, would give to global health, which is an interest I have. … Not nearly enough philanthropy goes in that direction.

ā€œYou know, those meetings were a mistake. They didn’t result in what he purported, and I cut them off. You know, that goes back a long time ago now. There’s, you know, so there’s nothing new on that.ā€

Woodruff said that the two met over several years as Gates shook his head at the comment. She then asked what he did when he learned about Epstein’s background.

ā€œWell, it’s, you know, I’ve said I regretted having those dinners, and there’s nothing, absolutely nothing new on that,ā€ Gates said.

ā€œIs there a lesson for you, for anyone else looking at this?ā€ Woodruff then asked.

ā€œWell, he’s dead, so, you know, in general, you always have to be careful,ā€ Gates responded.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.