Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Warren Buffet Makes A Final Decision On Donations to The Gates Foundation (7/15/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. A couple of weeks ago, we were talking
- 0:06Speaker 1: about Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and how Warren Buffett
- 0:11Speaker 1: was pausing his donation to the Gates Foundation. Well, come
- 0:16Speaker 1: to find out that that donation is getting paused. And
- 0:20Speaker 1: this comes after finding out on Tuesday that he's going
- 0:24Speaker 1: to donate six billion dollars before foundations that are connected
- 0:28Speaker 1: to his own family. So Warren Buffett thinks that the
- 0:33Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein situation is disgusting enough not to donate money
- 0:38Speaker 1: to Bill Gates. I think that should give you a
- 0:41Speaker 1: little bit of an inside track on just how devastating
- 0:45Speaker 1: this whole entire scandal is. And people like Bill Gates,
- 0:50Speaker 1: they might survive it, but their image is never going
- 0:52Speaker 1: to be what it once was, and moving forward, it's
- 0:55Speaker 1: going to be a lot more difficult for people like
- 0:57Speaker 1: Bill Gates to hustle people into going along with his
- 1:00Speaker 1: brain dead ideas, because once you lose the confidence of
- 1:03Speaker 1: Warren Buffett, that signals to everybody else that something's going on.
- 1:09Speaker 1: And when you add it all up with the Epstein
- 1:10Speaker 1: scandal and the fact that Warren Buffett reacted the way
- 1:13Speaker 1: he did not very good for Bill Gates or the
- 1:18Speaker 1: Gates Foundation. Today's article is from ABC News and the
- 1:22Speaker 1: headline Warren Buffett omits annual donation to Bill Gates Foundation
- 1:26Speaker 1: after his Epstein ties were disclosed. This article was authored
- 1:30Speaker 1: by Josh Funk. Billionaire Warren Buffett omitted Bill Gates Foundation
- 1:36Speaker 1: from his annual donations this year after disclosures of the
- 1:39Speaker 1: Microsoft co founder's ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
- 1:45Speaker 1: He'll donate about six million to four foundations connected to
- 1:48Speaker 1: his own family, but did not mention Gates at his
- 1:51Speaker 1: announcement on Tuesday. And he's donated a lot of money
- 1:55Speaker 1: to Bill Gates. I mean a whole lot of money.
- 2:01Speaker 1: And remember that plan with Bill Gates is to donate
- 2:04Speaker 1: your money as a billionaire to charities. And the craziest
- 2:07Speaker 1: part is these charities get the money. It never goes
- 2:11Speaker 1: to the people. If Bill Gates was serious, what he
- 2:14Speaker 1: would do is donate this money to regular people. That's right.
- 2:20Speaker 1: Give people one hundred grand, give people five hundred grand. Whatever.
- 2:24Speaker 1: If you want to help people's lives and you want
- 2:26Speaker 1: to make their lives better, go directly to them. Because
- 2:28Speaker 1: I assure you the vast majority of these billions that
- 2:31Speaker 1: are being donated while they're finding their way into somebody's pocket.
- 2:36Speaker 1: Buffett also said in his statement that he wants all
- 2:39Speaker 1: of his remaining Berkshire Hathaway stock worth nearly one hundred
- 2:42Speaker 1: and forty six billion, donated to charity by the end
- 2:46Speaker 1: of twenty thirty four. Previously, the plan was for three
- 2:49Speaker 1: of his children to distribute his remaining fortune within ten
- 2:53Speaker 1: years of the ninety five year old investor's death. I
- 2:56Speaker 1: don't even understand, Like, what are you doing? Like, do
- 3:00Speaker 1: they think this is some kind of flex They're gonna
- 3:02Speaker 1: donate all their wealth after they're dead? You want to
- 3:05Speaker 1: impress me, donate it now, Come and live how the
- 3:08Speaker 1: rest of us live for a little bit. They'll never
- 3:11Speaker 1: do that, though, will they. I'm gonna donate my money
- 3:15Speaker 1: when I'm dead. Pat me on my back. Of course,
- 3:19Speaker 1: mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated
- 3:23Speaker 1: to the four Foundations one way or the other by
- 3:26Speaker 1: December thirty first, twenty thirty four, Buffett said in a statement.
- 3:30Speaker 1: The goal is to have the grants grow annually to
- 3:33Speaker 1: each of the three foundations managed by each of my children,
- 3:37Speaker 1: and the annual grant to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation
- 3:40Speaker 1: grow out a somewhat greater rate. Look, maybe it's just
- 3:43Speaker 1: a cynic in me, but when I see this kind
- 3:45Speaker 1: of shit, all I hear is a way to avoid taxes,
- 3:48Speaker 1: is a way to avoid ponying up that dough to
- 3:51Speaker 1: the government. So let me say, I have this foundation, right,
- 3:55Speaker 1: and I'll make pretend that I'm this altruistic guy and
- 3:57Speaker 1: I'm giving away all these billions, But really it's just
- 4:00Speaker 1: pocket change for him, money that he was never going
- 4:04Speaker 1: to see anyway. So I've never really understood putting these
- 4:09Speaker 1: people on a pedestal, because if they really cared about people,
- 4:12Speaker 1: if they really cared about the situation in the country
- 4:15Speaker 1: or whatever, couldn't they all get together and put together
- 4:18Speaker 1: their own food bank or their own resources where people
- 4:21Speaker 1: could go to a company or place that's run by
- 4:24Speaker 1: them and get whatever they need. Why does it have
- 4:28Speaker 1: to be the government that does that. We have all
- 4:31Speaker 1: these rich people that talk all this bullshit, why don't
- 4:34Speaker 1: they do it? And look, I'm talking about the folks
- 4:38Speaker 1: that talk all this bullshit. I'm not saying anybody should
- 4:41Speaker 1: be forced to do that. Nobody should ever be forced
- 4:43Speaker 1: to spend their money in any way they don't want
- 4:45Speaker 1: to spend it. But when we're talking about these big mouths,
- 4:49Speaker 1: you know, the Mark Cubans of the world, the Jeff Bezos,
- 4:51Speaker 1: the Elon Musks, they could all get together, they could
- 4:54Speaker 1: put together some kind of fund and have some kind
- 4:58Speaker 1: of you know, help for people loo or starving or
- 5:01Speaker 1: whatever it is. But instead they'll just talk a bunch
- 5:03Speaker 1: of shit about how they donate the money to this
- 5:05Speaker 1: foundation or that foundation, and nothing ever gets done. Buffetting
- 5:11Speaker 1: Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to his day to questions.
- 5:15Speaker 1: CNBC said Buffett is scheduled to give the channel an
- 5:19Speaker 1: exclusive interview on the topic Wednesday morning. Well good, and
- 5:23Speaker 1: I think that will learn a little bit more, right,
- 5:26Speaker 1: because I think it's a pretty significant move as far
- 5:29Speaker 1: as Buffett goes, and as far as shame when it
- 5:34Speaker 1: comes to Bill Gates. I mean, imagine one of your
- 5:37Speaker 1: biggest spenders, one of your biggest supporters, one of your friends,
- 5:41Speaker 1: decides he's gonna pause donations because of your bullshit with Epstein.
- 5:46Speaker 1: Not exactly a great look. And I think it's gonna
- 5:49Speaker 1: end up costing the Foundation. In the long run, the
- 5:53Speaker 1: majority of Buffett's charitable gifts, worth more than sixty one billion,
- 5:57Speaker 1: have gone to the Gates Foundation. Since he announced the
- 6:00Speaker 1: plan to give away his fortune in two thousand and six,
- 6:04Speaker 1: he's been giving blocks of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the
- 6:07Speaker 1: Gates Foundation and the four foundations run by his three
- 6:10Speaker 1: children regularly. That money wouldn't be better spent in the
- 6:14Speaker 1: inner city, wouldn't be better spent on grants and scholarships
- 6:17Speaker 1: for people to go to trade school or college or whatever.
- 6:21Speaker 1: You know, I'm just shooting shit here. There's a lot
- 6:24Speaker 1: of people out there that are a lot smarter than
- 6:25Speaker 1: me that would utilize this money correctly. But when you
- 6:29Speaker 1: give it to these big foundations, in my opinion anyway,
- 6:33Speaker 1: it's kind of worthless. Oh sure they do some things right,
- 6:37Speaker 1: some people will get helped, but the vast majority of
- 6:39Speaker 1: that money is going to find its way into somebody's pocket.
- 6:42Speaker 1: Gates denies any knowledge of Epstein's crimes and has not
- 6:45Speaker 1: been accused of any wrongdoing. He said he only met
- 6:48Speaker 1: with Epstein because he thought it might help raise money
- 6:51Speaker 1: for charitable causes. Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing
- 6:55Speaker 1: dozens of underage girls, was found dead at the Manhattan
- 6:58Speaker 1: Federal lock Up in all his twenty nineteen and his
- 7:02Speaker 1: death was later ruled a suicide by the New York
- 7:04Speaker 1: Citi's medical examiner. Yeah, debatable at best, and accused, No,
- 7:10Speaker 1: that's what he was doing. Now, he might have only
- 7:13Speaker 1: been convicted of, you know, the charges he was convicted
- 7:17Speaker 1: of in Florida. But let's be real, with all of
- 7:20Speaker 1: the information that's available to you, now, do you really
- 7:23Speaker 1: think that Jeffrey Epstein was beating any case whatsoever related
- 7:27Speaker 1: to this. Well, if the fix wasn't in, I mean
- 7:31Speaker 1: zero chance. The evidence was as high as Mount Everest.
- 7:36Speaker 1: Buffett already said in twenty twenty four that he planned
- 7:39Speaker 1: to cut off donations to the Gates Foundation after his
- 7:41Speaker 1: death and let his three children decide how to distribute
- 7:44Speaker 1: the rest of his fortune. The decision he announced Tuesday
- 7:48Speaker 1: will accelerate that plan. And I think that if I
- 7:52Speaker 1: was somebody with this kind of money, I'd be giving
- 7:54Speaker 1: it to my children. Now. I donate some of it
- 7:57Speaker 1: to cause as I cared about, but I'd give it
- 7:59Speaker 1: to my kids. Buffett and Gates used to be exceptionally
- 8:04Speaker 1: close friends who talked, often played bridge online, and even
- 8:07Speaker 1: took vacations together. Gates also served on Gates board for years,
- 8:12Speaker 1: and the legendary investor sat on the board of the
- 8:14Speaker 1: Gates Foundation, but Buffett told CNBC in March that he
- 8:18Speaker 1: hadn't talked to Gates in months since before the Epstein
- 8:21Speaker 1: files were released in the fall of twenty twenty five.
- 8:25Speaker 1: In the past, Buffett stood up for Gates. Three years ago,
- 8:28Speaker 1: Buffett cut off a man who was presenting a resolution
- 8:31Speaker 1: at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting after he questioned gates
- 8:35Speaker 1: character because of his ties with Epstein. Well, look, let's
- 8:40Speaker 1: not act like Buffett is some kind of, you know,
- 8:42Speaker 1: noble guy. He's not. And the only reason that he's
- 8:45Speaker 1: not giving these donations anymore is because he's been outed.
- 8:50Speaker 1: But do you think that Warren Buffett didn't know what
- 8:53Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein was? Come on, man, these people are so smart,
- 8:57Speaker 1: or at least they tell us they are. That I
- 8:59Speaker 1: find that very, very hard to believe. Peter Flaherty was
- 9:06Speaker 1: arrested that day for trespassing, even though he had been
- 9:08Speaker 1: approved to make the presentation beforehand. The charge was later dropped,
- 9:13Speaker 1: but the incident led to a lawsuit, which is still
- 9:15Speaker 1: pending in the courts. Like, for real, you're gonna arrest
- 9:19Speaker 1: somebody because they have something bad to say about your buddy,
- 9:22Speaker 1: Bill Gates. You know, you better get the paddy wagon
- 9:25Speaker 1: ready because there's a lot of us that have bad
- 9:28Speaker 1: things to say about your buddy, Bill Gates. Buffett told
- 9:32Speaker 1: the NBC it's astounding to me that anybody could be
- 9:35Speaker 1: that successful as a con person, but Epstein found a
- 9:39Speaker 1: way to exploit the weaknesses of others. Buffett would not
- 9:43Speaker 1: discuss gates involvement, but said that he doesn't want to
- 9:46Speaker 1: be involved with anything that could be investigated later. Look,
- 9:49Speaker 1: that's smart and shrewd. I wouldn't want to be involved
- 9:52Speaker 1: in anything adjacent of Epstein. You're asking for big trouble,
- 9:56Speaker 1: especially as a guy like Warren Buffett. So that was
- 9:59Speaker 1: smart of Gates discussed as ties to Epstein with the
- 10:04Speaker 1: staff of his foundation. Recently. Gates appears multiple times in
- 10:08Speaker 1: the Justice Department. Files included email correspondents between Gates and
- 10:12Speaker 1: Epstein about philanthropic projects, calendar entries documenting dates they got together,
- 10:18Speaker 1: and photos of Gates at events the two men attended,
- 10:22Speaker 1: but they didn't really know each other. We only met
- 10:24Speaker 1: a couple times. Come on. The foundation announced that I
- 10:28Speaker 1: had hired someone in March to assess the foundation's past
- 10:31Speaker 1: engagement with Epstein and review its policies to vet any
- 10:35Speaker 1: future of philanthropic partnerships. Gates and the rest of the
- 10:39Speaker 1: foundation's board expect to get an update on that investigation
- 10:42Speaker 1: sometime this summer. Nothing like an internal investigation of clear
- 10:46Speaker 1: things up. Huh. They think you're stupid. Just to reiterate that. Okay,
- 10:52Speaker 1: they think you're dumb, and they think that they can
- 10:54Speaker 1: just push this along. Oh, we investigated, we didn't find
- 10:58Speaker 1: anything cool. How about a special counsel? What would they find?
- 11:05Speaker 1: Buffett told CNBC he's amazed at how many wealthy and
- 11:08Speaker 1: powerful people have been caught up in the Epstein scandal.
- 11:11Speaker 1: I mean it here, you had a guy that was
- 11:15Speaker 1: a convicted guy, a sensational con man, and the percentage
- 11:18Speaker 1: of people that he knocked off, Buffett said, I mean
- 11:21Speaker 1: whether it was he found their weakness. It might have
- 11:23Speaker 1: been sex, it might be power, it might be whatever
- 11:26Speaker 1: it might be. And I don't see how anybody could
- 11:29Speaker 1: have pulled that off. Oh please, oh please run and
- 11:33Speaker 1: cover for your friends. Huh. Epstein wasn't that smart of
- 11:36Speaker 1: a guy. Okay, wasn't that charismatic? It was parasitic. Your
- 11:40Speaker 1: friends wanted something from Epstein, so they were willing to
- 11:43Speaker 1: look the other way. There it is the whole story.
- 11:47Speaker 1: Buffett said, He's glad Epstein never came to Omaha, where
- 11:50Speaker 1: he's lived for more than six decades. Buffett's regarded by
- 11:53Speaker 1: many as the world's greatest investor who built up Berkshire
- 11:57Speaker 1: over the years by buying insurance companies like Geico, major
- 12:00Speaker 1: utilities manufacturers, and well known brands like Dairy Queen and
- 12:05Speaker 1: the BNSF Railroad. Buffett stepped down as Berkshire CEO in
- 12:10Speaker 1: January after sixty years of leading the company, but he
- 12:14Speaker 1: remains as chairman and the largest shareholder. Greg Gable is
- 12:18Speaker 1: now CEO of Berkshire Hathaway And look, this is just
- 12:22Speaker 1: a follow up on what we talked about previously with
- 12:25Speaker 1: Bill Gates and Buffett, and it kind of brings the
- 12:28Speaker 1: conversation full circle, right because previously the question was is
- 12:32Speaker 1: he going to pause the donations or is he going
- 12:34Speaker 1: to stop them? Well, now we have our answer, and
- 12:37Speaker 1: the answer is that those donations have been stopped, and
- 12:41Speaker 1: according to Buffett, it's for good because now he's going
- 12:45Speaker 1: to start giving the money to his kids and those
- 12:47Speaker 1: other foundations. So we're going to keep an eye on
- 12:50Speaker 1: things here and see what other foundations, if any other
- 12:53Speaker 1: donors decide to back out, because I think this might
- 12:56Speaker 1: have a halo effect, So we'll keep an eye on it,
- 12:59Speaker 1: and when we have some more information one way or
- 13:01Speaker 1: the other, we'll get that added to the catalog as well.
- 13:05Speaker 1: All the information that goes with this episode can be
- 13:08Speaker 1: found in the description box.