Trump casually offered Bill Gates a job. Gates turned him down.

(Image credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

published 30 April 2018

Bill Gates has quite the impressive résumé: founder of Microsoft, billionaire philanthropist, father of three. But in a recent conversation, President Trump apparently offered him the chance to further pad out his "Achievements" section.

In a meeting with the president last month, Gates mentioned to Trump that the White House should consider filling the post of science adviser, which currently sits empty. Per Gates, Trump responded with a maybe-serious job offer. In an interview with Stat published Monday, Gates recreated the scene:

"I mentioned: ‘Hey, maybe we should have a science adviser.'"

And?

"He said: Did I want to be the science adviser?"

That's not the answer Gates was looking for. "That's not a good use of my time," Gates recalled telling the president. [Stat]

Gates cautions that he's not 100 percent sure Trump was actually serious about the offer. "It was a friendly thing," Gates told Stat. "He was being friendly." Gates additionally revealed that during his 40-minute conversation with Trump, he implored the president to throw his weight behind a universal flu vaccine. Trump was "super interested" in the idea, Gates said, and immediately called the head of the FDA — on speakerphone — for more information. Read more at Stat.