CBS News keeps Peter Attia despite Epstein communications

CBS News keeps Peter Attia despite Epstein ties

CBS News will keep Peter Attia as a network contributor despite the recent publication of his extensive communications with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The decision, confirmed by internal staffers to The Guardian, follows weeks of internal deliberation.

Attia was one of 19 new on-air contributors announced by CBS News president Bari Weiss just three weeks ago. “Everyone internally unofficially concluded he was staying as of about a week ago,” one CBS News staffer said.

Attia's extensive communications with Epstein

Files released by the Justice Department last month show Attia exchanged hundreds of messages with Epstein in the 2010s, after Epstein had pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution. A search for Attia’s name in the document trove returns 1,838 results.

While some messages involved health advice, others revealed a close and troubling relationship. In a June 2015 email with the subject “fresh shipment,” Attia wrote to Epstein, “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 … ” The email included a redacted image.

Crass exchanges and personal choices

Other messages were explicitly crude. In a 2016 exchange, Attia joked about the health benefits of oral sex, writing, “Pussy is, indeed, low carb. Still awaiting results on gluten content, though.”

Attia also told Epstein’s assistant in 2016 that he went into “JE withdrawal” when he didn't see him. The following year, he chose to spend time with Epstein instead of visiting his infant son, who was hospitalized after cardiac arrest.

Internal frustration and a public apology

The decision to retain Attia has caused frustration within CBS News. “We’re pissed off about it,” another CBS employee told The Guardian.

Attia posted a lengthy public apology on X earlier this month, calling his revealed communications with Epstein “embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible.”

Why CBS decided to keep him

According to sources speaking to the New York Post, Bari Weiss agonized over the decision. A key factor was her belief that “contrarian voices like his” were crucial to restructuring CBS News’s business model.

The network has not made any public statement regarding Attia's status. His role as a contributor for the network currently remains intact.