Bill Gates ‘genuinely impressed’ after 3-hour dinner with Trump

Billionaire Bill Gates revealed he recently had an “intriguing” three-hour dinner with President-elect Donald Trump – and was “genuinely impressed” by their sit-down.

“I had a chance about two weeks ago to go and have a long and actually quite exciting dinner with him,” Gates told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday.

The Microsoft co-founder, 69, said much of their “wide-ranging” dinner table chat focused on global health challenges.

“I felt he was energetic and looking forward to helping drive innovation,” the tech titan said of Trump, 78. “I was honestly impressed with how well he showed a keen interest in the issues I raised .”

They were joined by incoming White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and one of Gates’ staffers.

“The four of us sat there and it was pretty extensive,” Gates said of the dinner.

“I talked a lot about HIV and that (The Gates) Foundation is literally working on a cure for it. We’re at an early stage, and so in the COVID days he accelerated vaccine innovation,” he said.

“So I asked him if perhaps the same could be done here. And we both got, I think, pretty excited about it,” Gates told WSJ Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker.

“We talked about polio, where we are very close to getting it done, but if you stop, it will spread back,” he continued.

“And he was intrigued to hear what he could do to maximize the chance that that incredible milestone will be achieved over the next four years.”

Details of the dinner emerged just weeks after Trump made a cryptic post on Truth Social in which he said Gates had asked to come to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Some speculated at the time that Trump’s message was intended for fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk’s eyes only.

“Where are you? When are you coming to the ‘Center of the Universe,’ Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come tonight. We miss you and x! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!! DJT,” the future president wrote.

At the time, Gates’ team did not respond when asked if he had requested a meeting with the soon-to-be 47th president.

It was not immediately clear exactly where or when the Gates-Trump dinner took place.

Gates, who also met with Trump back in 2016 ahead of his first term as president, is the latest billionaire to dine with him in the wake of his historic 2024 election win.

Other top business leaders — including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — recently traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the next commander-in-chief in the run-up to his Jan. 20 inauguration.