Jeffrey Toobin returns to CNN following Zoom masturbation scandal
Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo joins Laura Ingraham for an end of the week edition of 'Friday Follies'
Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's longtime chief legal analyst whose tenure was marked by personal scandal, announced Friday that he is leaving the network.
"Friends, I’ve decided that, after 20 years, I’m leaving @cnn after my vacation," Toobin tweeted. "Was great to spend my last day on air with pals Wolf, Anderson and Don. Love all my former colleagues," referring to CNN mainstays Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon.
A CNN spokesperson confirmed Toobin's departure, telling Fox News Digital, "We are grateful for Jeffrey's contributions to the network over the years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors."
Toobin's last day on-air was August 3, according to transcripts.
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 07: Jeffrey Toobin attends SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Conversations with Tom Brokaw at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Robin Williams Center on October 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation) (Getty Images)
Toobin was famously engulfed in a mess of a controversy in 2020 when he was caught masturbating during a Zoom meeting with his New Yorker colleagues and was later fired by the magazine. CNN, however, did not dismiss him, and he instead embarked on a lengthy leave of absence.
He returned to CNN's airwaves in June 2021, sitting down for an awkward exchange with CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota where he discussed the scandal and his time out of the public eye.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Camerota asked during the in-person interview.
"Well, obviously, I wasn't thinking very well or very much, and it was something that was inexplicable to me. I think one point – I wouldn't exactly say in my defense, because nothing is really in my defense. I didn't think I was on the call. I didn't think other people could see me," he said.
"Do you think … that the punishment fits the crime?" Camerota asked of his firing from The New Yorker.
"I am the worst person to ask that question," he said. "I mean, obviously, I love The New Yorker. I loved working there. I felt like I was a very good contributor to that magazine for a very long time, and I thought this punishment was excessive, but look, you know, that's why they don't ask the criminal to be the judge in his own case. I mean, I thought it was an excessive punishment. I'm incredibly grateful to CNN for taking me back."
Following that uncomfortable exchange, it was business as usual for Toobin, who had appeared regularly on the network since.
Jeffrey Toobin shocked the nation during his June 2021 return to CNN following his lengthy hiatus after his Zoom masturbation scandal the previous year. (CNN)
In May, following the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that signaled the overturning of Roe v. Wade, CNN was pummeled for allowing Toobin to dominate the network's coverage due to what critics call a clear conflict of interest.
Unbeknownst to most CNN viewers, the issue of abortion hits close to home for Toobin.
TWITTER EXPLODES AT CNN'S JEFFREY TOOBIN COMEBACK FOLLOWING ZOOM MASTURBATION SCANDAL: ‘THIS IS CNN’
Toobin fathered a child in 2009 with Casey Greenfield, the daughter of Toobin's one-time CNN colleague Jeff Greenfield.
He urged Greenfield to have an abortion, reportedly even offering money to terminate the pregnancy. Toobin was later taken to court after he denied the child was his. Toobin was ordered to pay child support after he was forced to take a DNA test which proved that he was the child's biological father.
FILE - Lawyer and author Jeffrey Toobin attends the 2018 PEN Literary Gala in New York on May 22, 2018. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
The left-leaning Toobin first joined CNN in 2002 and was a prominent figure on the network during the Trump era, particularly in CNN's coverage of the Russia investigation and Jan. 6. Toobin is also a prolific author, with works adapted into television shows about the O.J. Simpson murder trial and the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal.
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It is unclear whether Toobin's departure is a sign of the personnel changes CNN's new boss Chris Licht intends to make since becoming the network's CEO in May. Licht has signaled efforts to bring CNN back toward the middle after its leftward lurch under Jeff Zucker.