US wellness guru exits CBS News over Epstein files: Reports

WASHINGTON – Physician-turned-influencer Peter Attia has left television network CBS News following the publication of hundreds of e-mails he exchanged with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, US media reported.

Dr Attia was part of a new group of contributors announced in January by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who has clashed with the network’s news division over editorial matters.

A spokesman for Dr Attia told CNBC that the longevity guru’s role had “not meaningfully begun”, and he resigned to avoid becoming “a distraction from the important work being done at CBS”.

Dr Attia, who has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, wrote in a post on X earlier in February: “My interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone.”

But the released files revealed that Dr Attia sent Epstein some vulgar notes about women. And in a June 24, 2015, e-mail, Dr Attia wrote to Epstein that the “biggest problem” with being friends was “the life you lead is so outrageous and yet I can’t talk about it to anyone”.

Epstein was first convicted of sex crimes involving minors in 2008, and he was alleged to have facilitated underage sex for some of the world’s most powerful men.

Dr Attia had more than a million subscribers on his YouTube channel, and The Washington Post reported that his name appears in hundreds of documents related to the Epstein case.

In the X post dated Feb 2, Dr Attia described the Epstein he knew as “a funder of science” who “moved openly among credible institutions and public figures”.

“In retrospect, the presence and credibility of such venerable people in different orbits led me to make assumptions about him that clouded my judgment in ways it shouldn’t have,” Dr Attia wrote.

Dr Attia said he visited Epstein’s New York City home “seven or eight” times between 2014 and 2019, “regarding research studies and to meet others he introduced me to”.

The departure from CBS makes Dr Attia one of the few American public figures to face a consequence over consorting with

Epstein, who died in prison in New York

while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minors.

Other US-based Epstein penpals who have resigned since the Department of Justice began releasing his private e-mails include billionaire Thomas Pritzker, who stepped down as executive chairman of the Hyatt hotel group, and Ms Kathryn Ruemmler, who left Goldman Sachs where she was general counsel.

US justice officials have declined to pursue new charges since the files were disclosed, stirring public outrage and raising more questions amid continued demands from alleged victims seeking justice.

Epstein’s long-time associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been successfully prosecuted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Epstein over the course of a decade. AFP