CBS News was forced to address its newest “star” contributor’s deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein during Tony Dokoupil’s program on Monday night.
CBS Evening News walked viewers through the latest Epstein file release, which included nearly 2,000 references to Peter Attia, a so-called “wellness guru” who joined the ranks of the Bari Weiss-led network last week.
Covering a story uncomfortably close to home, Justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane told viewers, “The Epstein files also show hundreds of references to physician and author Peter Attia, who was recently hired as a CBS News contributor, including crude, sexual messages by Attia.”
MacFarlane noted that Attia, 52, had “apologized” and said he is not involved in any criminal activity.
Weiss, the network’s editor-in-chief who brought in Attia, has yet to comment publicly on the revelation. She is reportedly locked in a standoff with CBS’s parent company, Paramount Skydance, over Attia’s future at the network.
Scott MacFarlane added, “Paramount Skydance, the owner of CBS News, did not respond to my request for comment.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Attia for comment.
CBS has since shelved plans to re-run a 60 Minutes segment with Attia that was set to air on Sunday, according to media reporter for The Guardian, Jeremy Barr.
Dozens of emails between Attia and Epstein released by the Justice Department portray the two men joking playfully about women, exchanging compliments, and alluding to a close friendship—years after the disgraced financier’s 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution.
Time stamps also revealed Attia opted to meet with Epstein in New York while ignoring his wife’s plea to come to the hospital where their infant son was being treated after going into cardiac arrest in 2017.
Yet, Weiss, 41, is battling to keep Attia, a popular podcaster, at the network, according to The Wrap.
The new editor-in-chief, who built her career railing against cancel culture, is reportedly refusing to give into the backlash and fire the self-styled “longevity expert.”
“Update on the Peter Attia situation: We’re hearing there is a battle royale between Paramount corporate and CBS News’ Bari Weiss,” Sharon Waxman, editor-in-chief of The Wrap, wrote on X. “She does not want to cut ties w/ Attia and sees it as givin in to the mob. Paramount sees it as an HR matter and that Attia can’t give expert advice.”
New York Post and Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino, who is well-connected to Weiss, also reported that she “hates cancel culture and doesn’t want to cut [Attia] lose [sic] from his contributor’s gig.”
Weiss, who founded the anti-woke Substack The Free Press, was installed as CBS News’s editor-in-chief by billionaire David Ellison in October, a move widely viewed as an attempt to placate President Donald Trump.
In emails, Attia told Epstein that “p---y” was low carb, and whined that the disgraced financier’s lifestyle was so “outrageous” that he could not tell other people about it.
Attia issued a lengthy statement Monday offering justifications, explanations, but little apology, for his relationship with Epstein.
He described being awed by Epstein’s elite social connections, his private plane, and his ownership of “the largest home in all of Manhattan,” saying the financier’s lavish lifestyle ultimately led him to overlook Epstein’s sex offender conviction.
“At that point in my career, I had little exposure to prominent people, and that level of access was novel to me,” he wrote.
Attia claimed he met Epstein at most eight times. He claimed he did not engage in any criminal activity, nor visit Epstein’s notorious island. A 2016 email, however, shows Attia writing to the sex trafficker that he needed to “visit sometime.”
“I am not asking anyone to ignore the emails or pretend they aren’t ugly. They simply are,” Attia acknowledged. “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.”
