Palm Beach, Florida - Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates spilled some details about his dinner with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago shortly after Christmas.

Speaking with The Independent, Gates said that he had urged Trump to continue US funding of research into HIV and polio, an area in which his foundation does a lot of work.

"When I went down to see Trump, I wondered if Elon would be there, but it ended up being a meeting with just Trump and I and our two staff people," the billionaire said.

Gates was one of a growing number of unelected oligarchs that have gotten progressively closer to Trump in recent months, securing an outsized influence on the incoming administration's policies.

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Musk in particular has become a key figure and will lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, tasked with cutting public resources.

In a separate interview with the Wall Street Journal, Gates said that their dinner was "long and actually quite intriguing."

"He, in the Covid days, accelerated the vaccine innovation. So I was asking him if maybe the same kind of thing could be done here, and we both got, I think, pretty excited about that," he said.

"I felt like he was energized and looking forward to helping to drive innovation. I was frankly impressed with how well he showed a lot of interest in the issues I brought up."

Gates has long used his immense wealth to shape government and public health policies to his designs.