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Billionaire Bill Gates doubled down on his criticism of Elon Musk when he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The Microsoft founder also elaborated on his decision to donate much of the remainder of his fortune to the Gates Foundation over the next twenty years.
Gates, 69, told Colbert on Thursday evening that he estimates his gesture will be worth approximately $200bn over the next 20 years and enable the foundation to contribute to the global fight against childhood mortality and deadly diseases like malaria and HIV.
The announcement comes as Donald Trump’s administration has effectively shuttered the United States Agency for International Development and slashed funding for healthcare programs around the world, much of which is being overseen by Musk’s DOGE.
Prior to his interview with Colbert, Gates had told The Financial Times that the Tesla and SpaceX boss was responsible for “killing the world’s poorest children” through his activities in government.
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Musk responded angrily to a clip of Gates making a similar accusation on CBS Morning, saying in an X post: “Gates is a huge liar.”
Revisiting the subject of DOGE’s cuts with Colbert, Gates was asked: “Does it make any sense to you, does the rationale make any sense to you, do you talk to these people, you must talk to some of them and say, ‘Why are you doing this, guys?’”
He answered: “I’ve been out in the field with the people who work for USAID and seen the brilliant work they do and how important that is.
“Unfortunately, you know, there was a weekend where it was decided they were criminals and they were put in the woodchipper, and so we lost a lot of capacity there. Now, we can get it back. Eventually, Congress is the one who will have the final word on this.
“[But] I’m not even sure the administration understands what is going on in the field because we do have, for the first time in 25 years, we have more children dying. Instead of it going down, it’s now going up. And unless we reverse pretty quickly, that will be over a million additional deaths.”
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The comedian pressed Gates on who he felt was to blame for the misunderstanding he had identified at the heart of the Trump administration.
“You lay some of this at the feet of DOGE and, of course, Elon Musk and – I hope I’m getting this even close here – you said: ‘The picture of the world’s richest man being involved in the death of the world’s poorest is not a pretty one’,” Colbert said.
“That’s right,” Gates nodded.
“Well said! Well said!” Colbert responded. “I mean, not that all billionaires know each other, but have you called him to say, ‘What gives, man? Don’t you know that this is going to be on you, that you have blood on your hands?’
“Well at this point, you know, he’s withdrawn…” Gates began, before the comedian interjected: “From reality? Where has he withdrawn from?”
“He’s headed to Mars,” Gates joked.
He went on to say that he was “looking forward to getting more time with President Trump” to make the case against defunding healthcare initiatives. Gates said that he had found the commander-in-chief to be more receptive than he had expected about supporting HIV and polio vaccination efforts in their past encounters.
