Longevity guru Dr. Peter Attia is stepping aside as a contributor toCBS News, after correspondence betweenJeffrey Epsteinand the researcher and health media personality came to light in the release of the Epstein Files from the Department of Justice.

CBS News staff were informed of the decision Monday in a note from the network’s booking department,The Hollywood Reporterhas learned. Attia told CBS that he would be resigning effective immediately.

Attia was one of a number of high-profile contributors that CBS News editor-in-chiefBari Weissbrought on as part of her plannedoverhaulof the network news division, seeking to bring more voices into CBS’ linear and digital coverage.Related StoriesNewsFilmmaker Nicholas Jarecki's Chummy Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein RevealedNewsInside Jeffrey Epstein's Hollywood: The Stars, Moguls, Directors, Producers and Fixers in His Orbit

Shortly after that announcement, however, the embarrassing exchanges were released by the DOJ, many of which contained crude banter. CBSsubsequently pulleda rerun of a60 Minutessegment that featured Attia.

That said, Attia had been expected to remain a contributor to the network, with Weiss being a critic of so-called “cancel culture.” Of course, the Epstein emails damaged his reputation even if he personally did not engage in or know about any criminal activity, as Attia wrote ina notehe sent to his team and his patients.

“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,” Attia added. “I accept that reality and the humiliation that comes with it.”

Attia’s name appears some 1,700 times in the 3 million Epstein documents released on Jan. 30. The bulk of the emails between Attia and Epstein are from the mid-2010s — after Epstein was convicted (in 2008) on a Florida charge of soliciting prostitution from someone under 18, but before a 2018Miami Heraldexposé on a host of allegations against Epstein and his second arrest in 2019.

The health and longevity researcher and author isone of many peoplewith connections to Hollywood and the media business who were found to have known Epstein.

Source: Drudge Report