CBS News scrambles as new contributor's Epstein email connections surface in latest DOJ files

CBS News has a Peter Attia problem. 

Attia, a longevity expert, was named as a CBS News contributor on Jan. 27 when editor-in-chief Bari Weiss announced the network’s newest additions. But Attia was on the job for less than a week when his name appeared more than 1,700 times when the Justice Department released the latest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files on Friday.  

Attia and Epstein exchanged several emails, including one that featured the anti-aging guru joking that female genitals were "low card." In another email, Attia told Epstein that "the biggest problem with becoming friends" was that his life was "so outrageous" but he couldn’t "tell a soul" about it. Attia also sent an email with the subject line, "Got a fresh shipment." 

CBS News has been silent on the situation, but Fox News Digital has learned it decided to pull a planned repeat of "60 Minutes" featuring Attia that was scheduled to air on Sunday against the Super Bowl. The New York Post reported Monday that CBS News honchos were "weighing" whether to cut ties with Attia. 

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"Weiss — a longtime critic of cancel culture — was said to be initially reluctant to do so, according to a source with knowledge of the matter," the Post reported. "But the increasingly persuasive argument within CBS News was that the outlet couldn’t platform an expert giving medical advice after hundreds of chummy, eyebrow-raising emails between Attia and Epstein surfaced, the person said."

The scrapped repeat of "60 Minutes," which originally aired in October before Attia joined CBS News, was a profile conducted by veteran journalist Norah O'Donnell. She "became a patient for a day, undergoing his practice’s rigorous evaluation, and interviewed Attia about his methods and innovative approach to longevity — one aimed at helping people live not just longer, but better," CBS said at the time in a press release. 

Attia took to social media on Monday in an attempt to clear his name. 

"You’ve put your trust, your credibility, and your hard work into what we have built together, and I take that responsibility seriously. You deserve a complete and honest account of what did and did not happen. I apologize that I did not get this out sooner, but I want to be thorough. The purpose of the DOJ releasing these documents is clear: to identify individuals who participated in criminal activity, enabled it, or witnessed it. I am not in any of those categories, and there is no evidence to the contrary," Attia wrote.

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"To be clear: 1. I was not involved in any criminal activity. 2. My interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone. 3. I was never on his plane, never on his island, and never present at any sex parties," he continued. "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."

In the lengthy post on X, Attia then directly addressed "the email thread that I’ve been asked about the most."

"In June 2015, I sent Epstein an email with the subject line ‘Got a fresh shipment.’ The email contained a photograph of bottles of metformin, a medication I had just received from the pharmacy for my own use. The subject line referred to the picture of the bottles of medication. He replied with the words ‘me too’ and attached a photograph of an adult woman. I responded with crude, tasteless banter. Reading that exchange now is very embarrassing, and I will not defend it. I’m ashamed of myself for everything about this. At the time, I understood this exchange as juvenile, not a reference to anything dark or harmful," Attia wrote. 

Attia then said he had "little exposure to prominent people" and everything about Epstein seemed "excessive and exclusive, including the fact that he lived in the largest home in all of Manhattan, owned a Boeing 727, and hosted parties with the most powerful and prominent leaders in business and politics."

"I treated that access as something to be quiet about rather than discussed freely with others. One line in that exchange, about his life being outrageous and me not being able to tell anyone, is being interpreted as awareness of wrongdoing. That is not how I meant it at all. What I was referring to, poorly and flippantly, was the discretion commanded by those social and professional circles — the idea that you don’t talk about who you meet, the dinners you attend and the power and influence of the people in those settings. What I wrote in that email reads terribly, and I own that," he wrote.

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Attia said he met Epstein in 2014 and never visited his island, ranch or traveled on his planes. 

"Shortly after we met, I asked him directly about his 2008 conviction. He characterized it as prostitution-related charges. In 2018, I came to learn this was grossly minimized (more on this below). I was incredibly naïve to believe him. I mistook his social acceptance in the eyes of the credible people I saw him with for acceptability, and that was a serious error in my judgment. To be clear, I never witnessed illegal behavior and never saw anyone who appeared underage in his presence," Attia wrote. 

"I am not asking for a pass from you. I am not asking anyone to ignore the emails or pretend they aren’t ugly. They simply are," he continued. "The man I am today, roughly ten years later, would not write them and would not associate with Epstein at all. Whatever growth I’ve had over the past decade does not erase the emails I wrote then. I recognize that my actions and words have consequences for the people I care deeply about, including all of you. I regret the cost this has placed on you, and I take responsibility for it."

In November, the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed, requiring the government to release within 30 days all unclassified material in its possession related to Epstein's and associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases. 

President Donald Trump signed the bill into law in November. 

Attia didn't immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for additional comment.

Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this report.