Trump knew a 'scary' amount about Bill Gates' daughter’s looks, says Microsoft founder

Bill Gates has claimed Donald Trump twice asked him if there was a difference between HIV and HPV, knew a “scary” amount about the Microsoft founder’s daughter’s looks, and once left an event so he could arrive back 20 minutes later in a helicopter.

The remarks were caught on camera at a recent Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation event, where the billionaire philanthropist took questions from staff, according to MSNBC, which obtained the footage.

Addressing the audience, Gates said his daughter Jennifer, 22, had encountered Mr Trump at a horse show hosted by the 71-year-old in Florida.

“He went up and talked to Jen, and he was being super nice, and then 20 minutes later he flew in on a helicopter to the same place. So clearly he had been driven away, but he wanted to make a grand entrance in a helicopter,” Gates said.

Having “avoided” Mr Trump at an event earlier in 2016, Gates said he met him for the first time at a Trump Tower meeting that December.

“When I first talked to him it was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter’s appearance... Melinda didn’t like that too well.”

Gates said he met the president again in March 2017, this time at the White House during a period when Mr Trump was considering a commission to investigate the widely debunked link between vaccines and autism.

“Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HIV and HPV, so I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other,” Mr Gates said.

Despite similar acronyms, HIV and HPV are completely different types of virus. Human papilloma virus (HPV) affects the skin and can cause verrucas, genital warts and abnormal cell changes in the cervix. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks the immune system and can ultimately lead to Aids.

In another anecdote about one of his meetings with the president, Gates said: “When I walked in, his first sentence kind of threw me off. He said, ‘Trump hears that you don’t like what Trump is doing’. And I thought, ‘Wow, you’re Trump!’.”

Eugene Gu, a US surgeon and healthcare expert, said the footage showed Mr Trump was “completely clueless on the most basic healthcare questions”.

“Yet [he] dedicates his presidency to stripping Americans from their health care,” the doctor added.

The White House has been contacted for comment.