New CBS News Contributor Peter Attia Apologizes After Emails Reveal Extensive Interaction With Jeffrey Epstein
Peter Attia, who was announced last week as a new contributor to CBS News, posted a lengthy apology on X after the Justice Department’s release of millions of documents in the Jeffrey Epstein files showed that he had extensive interactions with the underage sex offender.
Attia wrote on X, “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.”
Attia was among the list of new contributors hired by CBS News, part of a new strategy by editor in chief Bari Weiss. A health influencer known for longevity medicine, Attia, in his post on X, said that he got to know Epstein because, earlier in his career, He “had little exposure to prominent people, and that level of access was novel to me. Everything about him 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.”
But he denied he participated in or witnessed criminal activity.
In one of the emails that has drawn the most attention, Attia sent Epstein a message on June 24, 2015 with the subject line, “Got a fresh shipment.” Epstein replied with the message, “Me too,” and a photo that was redacted.
“Please tell you found that picture online…bastard,” Attia wrote.
Epstein replied, “Fraid not.”
“You know the biggest problem with becoming friends with you? The life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul…”
In his X post, Attia said that the redacted photo was of an adult woman, and that the “fresh shipment” was referring to bottles of metformin, “a medication I had just received from the pharmacy for my own use.”
Attia wrote, “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.”
He wrote that his reference to not being able to tell anyone was referring to “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.”
The New York Times reported that Attia’s name appears in more than 1,700 documents that have been released by the Justice Department. A CBS News spokesperson did not return a request for comment on Attia’s status at the network.
