By Leah Douglas and Zaheer Kachwala
WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Paramount-owned CBS News is expected to cut ties with contributor Dr. Peter Attia, an influential longevity expert, over his dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Wrap reported on Monday, citing an individual with knowledge of the parent company’s thinking.
Attia’s name appears more than 1,700 times in the trove of 3 million emails released as part of the Epstein files by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday.
In a post on X, Attia, a podcaster and author of the book “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity,” on Monday denied that he was involved in criminal activity.
But he apologized and said he was “ashamed” by the emails, which included “crude, tasteless banter.”
In one 2015 note, Attia said, “The biggest problem with becoming friends with you? The life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul…”
In a 2016 email, Attia said, using Epstein’s initials, “I go into JE withdrawal when I don’t see him.”
Epstein, a multimillionaire who socialized with the elite, was convicted in 2008 on charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution. He died by suicide in 2019.
CBS News and Attia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
ATTIA NEW CBS CONTRIBUTOR
Just last week, Attia, who has 1.6 million followers on Instagram, was named a CBS contributor as part of Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ strategy to restructure operations by adding 19 new contributors and bring a “streaming mentality” to the network.
Attia appeared in an October segment of the CBS show “60 Minutes” and was described as “both a pioneer and a star in the growing field of longevity medicine.”
According to his personal website, Attia received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine and trained at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the National Institutes of Health.
Attia appeared to have been removed from the website of David Protein, a protein bar company he has invested in.
As of January 29, Attia was listed on the company’s homepage as chief science officer, according to an archived version of the webpage accessed with the Wayback Machine. As of January 12, he was named on the company’s “experts” page with the same title, an archived webpage showed.
Attia no longer appeared on either webpage on Monday. David Protein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ATTIA CALLS EMAILS ‘EMBARRASSING’
In his X post on Monday, Attia said he met with Epstein seven or eight times at his New York City home between 2014 and 2019, but never witnessed illegal activity or saw Epstein accompanied by anyone who appeared to be underage.
“I was not involved in any criminal activity,” he said. “My interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone.
“That said, I apologize and regret putting myself in a position where emails, some of them embarrassing, tasteless and indefensible, are now public, and that is on me. I accept that reality and the humiliation that comes with it,” he said.
Epstein died while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru and Leah Douglas in Washington; additional reporting by Helen Coster in New York; editing by Pooja Desai, Mark Heinrich, Caroline Humer and Cynthia Osterman)
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