Bill Gates and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. (Twitter Photos)

Money talks. And talk of money gets people with money talking. That seems to be the case, at least on Twitter, as Bill Gates engaged with Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a back and forth about wealth and taxes.

It all started on Wednesday when the billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder sat down for a fireside chat with The New York Times. Touching on a variety of topics, from Microsoft’s antitrust case history to political ads on social media to Jeff Bezos in space, Gates was asked about Warren and her 2020 presidential aspirations.

“I’m not sure how open-minded she is or that she’d even be willing to sit down with somebody who has large amounts of money,” Gates said, before weighing in further on proposals to tax the super rich.

“I’ve paid over $10 billion in taxes. I’ve paid more than anyone in taxes,” Gates said. “If I had had to pay $20 billion, it’s fine. But when you say I should pay $100 billion, then I’m starting to do a little math about what I have leftover. Sorry, I’m just kidding.”

Warren was paying attention to Gates — and his math — tweeting at him Wednesday night about her desire to meet and explain it all.

Gates woke up Thursday morning in a complimentary mood, saying he was willing to talk. Perhaps he was buoyed by some of the chatter on Twitter that took his Wednesday stance as a signal that he’d rather vote to re-elect President Trump than see his fortune taxed away.

He replied to Warren, saying that she and other candidates are having an “interesting conversation” about solving tough problems and that he greatly respects the commitment to addressing wealth inequality and poverty in the U.S.

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