Microsoft founder Bill Gates told his foundation’s staff that President Donald Trump didn’t know the difference between HPV and HIV when they met with each other on two different occasions, according to an exclusive clip obtained by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
The clip shows Gates telling the room that in two separate meetings with the president, specifically recalling a March 2017 meeting, Trump asked him about the difference between the two viruses.
“He wanted to know if there was a difference between HPV and HIV,” Gates said in the clip. “So I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other.”
HPV, the human papillomavirus, is an infection that can cause genital warts and lead to cervical cancer, while HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
Gates said Trump also referred to himself in the third person, reportedly telling him that “Trump hears that you don’t like what Trump is doing.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has donated millions to public health and development initiatives. In 2016, the foundation announced a $140 million donation to help develop an implantable drug pump to prevent the spread of HIV.
Gates has also spoken out against Trump’s “America First” policy. The tech giant told Politico in March that he planned to explain the importance of foreign aid to the president during their meeting.
“I’ll take his framework and explain why things like health security and continued foreign aid, even in that narrow framework, where you give no credit for saving lives in Africa, kind of pure humanitarian things, even without that, this is money well spent,” Gates told the outlet.
Trump reportedly offered Gates a job as a White House science adviser at their meeting this March. Gates told Stat News in April that he rejected the proposal, as it wouldn’t be a good use of his time.