--- title: Bill Gates: Donald Trump Knew Too Much About My Daughter description: Bill Gates found it “scary” how much Donald Trump knew about his daughter's appearance when they first met canonical: https://time.com/5282132/bill-gates-donald-trump-daughter/ author: Ciara Nugent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-18T12:27:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:16.583Z og:title: Bill Gates Was a Little Creeped Out by How Much Trump Knew About His Daughter og:description: "It was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter's appearance" og:url: https://time.com/5282132/bill-gates-donald-trump-daughter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Gates Was a Little Creeped Out by How Much Trump Knew About His Daughter twitter:description: "It was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter's appearance" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Bill Gates Was a Little Creeped Out by How Much Donald Trump Knew About His Daughter > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=9c4324a0-cbb9-42ca-b201-98e92010e4ea&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Bill Gates Guest-Edits Time Magazine [Watch (HLS stream): Bill Gates Guest-Edits Time Magazine](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FywCjMzE.m3u8) (1:22)  _Published 2018-01-04. Bill Gates is the guest editor for a special issue of Time Magazine._  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent May 18, 2018 12:27 PM UTC  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent May 18, 2018 12:27 PM UTC [Bill Gates](http://time.com/5086907/bill-gates-nancy-gibbs-interview/) found it “scary” how much Donald Trump knew about his daughter’s appearance when they first met, Gates said in a newly disclosed video. The Microsoft founder’s comments were made to the staff at his charitable Gates Foundation, [video of which was obtained by MSNBC and aired Thursday night on _All In With Chris Hayes_](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/bill-gates-says-trump-asked-difference-between-hiv-hpv-n875286). The video depicts Gates saying he had “avoided” Trump before he was elected President, but then went to see him in Trump Tower before the inauguration to discuss science and innovation. Gates said Trump had met his daughter Jennifer, 22, at an earlier event in Florida. “He went up and talked to Jen and was being super nice,” Gates said. “And then like 20 minutes later he flew in on a helicopter to the same place. So clearly he had been driven away and wanted to make a grand entrance on a helicopter” “So when I first talked to him it was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter’s appearance,” Gates said, prompting groans from the crowd. “Melinda \[Gates’ wife\] did not like that too well.” Gates also said that Trump asked him on multiple occasions “if there was a difference between HIV and HPV.” “I was able to explain that those are things that are rarely confused with each other,” Gates said. Neither the White House nor the Gates Foundation has commented on the video. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:03] Good [00:06] morning. We were doing some research. [00:10] You've been on the cover ten times. This is also the first [00:14] guest edited issue of Time in 94 years. So, Write [00:20] this in. We want to show you some of the layouts. We're [00:23] thinking that those photos could go in what would be your [00:27] editor's letter. We have Steven Pinker, Malala, Ava [00:31] DuVernay, Bono, they're all in. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] The [00:35] couple weeks that this team has been immersed in with [00:38] hurricanes and floods and earthquakes Your [00:42] relentless optimism, how do you square it with that, [00:46] and how should we think about it as we approach the [00:49] issue? So, improvement is kind [00:53] of a silent thing that happens gradually. You know, the [00:57] world is unjust, but it's way more just today. [ UNKNOWN ] [01:00] [ MUSIC ] When you say you're optimistic, you're not [01:02] saying you can just stand back and you're not to know [01:05] what reverse is but, you can say okay we've done really [01:09] well. Let's take the examples of where we've done super [01:13] well and spread those. 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