If this is going to be the take on what was heard, Buffett should give serious thought to retiring from interviews.

"" In a nearly one-hour interview with CNBC's Becky Quick on the day he publicly revealed he is cutting off the Gates Foundation from future donations, Warren Buffett downplayed the role Bill Gates' association with Jeffrey Epstein played in that decision.

He also revealed he initiated Berkshire Hathaway's now $30 billion position in Google parent Alphabet, which many had thought was Greg Abel's first major investment decision as CEO.

 
Buffett: Gates-Epstein ties 'distasteful' but everyone makes mistakes

While Warren Buffett found Bill Gates' ties to notorious sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein "distasteful," he says his decision to end future contributions to the Microsoft co-founder's foundation was driven by his three children demonstrating they are now able to responsibly give away "vast sums of money."

Over the same 20 years he gave the Gates Foundation nearly $48 billion in Berkshire shares, as valued at the time of the donations, he also donated almost $18 billion to Susie Buffett's Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Peter Buffett's NoVo Foundation, and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his late first wife.

He told Becky, "I'm impressed by the fact that my kids really want to give the money away" efficiently, without constructing huge buildings or holding conferences "at esoteric places and all kinds of things."

Buffett says he didn't have that same confidence in his children in 2006 when he started his donations to the Gates Foundation.

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SQUAWK BOX VIDEO (July 14): Warren Buffett: Ended Gates donations to give more to my children, not because of Epstein ties

In a March interview with CNBC, Becky asked if he would continue his "lifetime" commitment to make annual donation to the Gates Foundation in light of revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein files about his connections to Gates.

At that time, he replied, "I'll wait and see what unfolds ... I don't have to make that decision today. And I haven't made it today."

"I've learned things I didn't know about something for all these years."

Now Buffett says he's read a "great deal" about the matter, including Gates' congressional testimony last month, and presumably, the February Wall Street Journal report that in a meeting with foundation staff members, Gates "acknowledged that he had two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered, but that they didn’t involve Epstein’s victims."

Buffett's assessment: "While it's distasteful, while he made mistakes, I made mistakes in hiring all kinds of people or choosing friends and then finding out later that they — that one way or another, they weren't what I thought they were. And so, I found nothing in there that that was beyond what I could see — I could picture myself doing."

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Bill Gates and Warren Buffett participate in a CNBC Town Hall at Columbia Business School in New York City on November 12, 2009. (CNBC)

In March, Buffett said he had not talked with Gates "at all since the whole thing" with the Epstein files "was unveiled."

That's no longer the case. Buffett tells Becky that Gates came to Omaha within the last several weeks "and we spent three hours talking together" and "he intends to call me" to maintain contact.

Buffett says that "at some point" he told Gates he is ending his annual donations before announcing the move this week and Gates is "OK" with the decision. "It's been a wonderful friendship."

In a statement emailed to CNBC by a representative, Bill Gates said, "Warren is one of the greatest philanthropists of all time, and a dear friend. His wisdom, generosity, and deep sense of purpose have defined both his life and his philanthropy."

Gates credits Buffett's "unprecedented support" with helping to save millions of lives.

"My gratitude to Warren is immeasurable, and I cherish the time we spend together. I hope we have much more of it ahead."

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