Peter Attia out as CBS News contributor after name appeared over 1,700 times in Epstein files

Dr. Peter Attia is out as a CBS News contributor after his name appeared more than 1,700 times in the newly released batch of Jeffrey Epstein files, Fox News Digital confirmed on Monday.

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 relationship with the convicted pedophile was revealed. 

"Dr. Attia's contributor role was newly established and had not yet meaningfully begun. As such, he stepped back to ensure his involvement didn't become a distraction from the important work being done at CBS. He wishes the network and its leadership well and has no further comment at this time," a spokesperson for Attia told Fox News Digital. 

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Attia and Epstein exchanged several emails, including one that featured the anti-aging guru joking that female genitals were "low carb." 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." 

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that "Attia told CBS that he would be resigning effective immediately" and that the network's booking department sent a memo to staffers informing them of the breakup. A CBS News insider confirmed the report to Fox News Digital.  

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

"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 wrote. "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."

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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.

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

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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.