Jeffrey Toobin, the disgraced legal analyst who lost his job at the New Yorker (but kept his post at CNN) for masturbating in front of colleagues during a Zoom call, is leaving the network after 20 years. Toobin announced his departure on Twitter, noting that he would not return to CNN following his "vacation" and implying the decision was his alone.
"Was great to spend my last day on air with pals Wolf [Blitzer], Anderson [Cooper] and Don [Lemon]," Toobin wrote. "Love all my former colleagues. Watch for my next book, about the Oklahoma City bombing, coming in 2023 from @simonandschuster."
The New Yorker gave Toobin the pink slip in November 2020 following the masturbation incident. The publication said its decision was based on a desire to foster "an environment where everyone feels respected and upholds our standards of conduct." CNN felt otherwise, allowing the legal analyst to take "time off while he deals with a personal issue." The network welcomed him back on the air in June 2021. "I didn't think other people could see [the masturbating]," he explained.
Apart from the outrageous episode of indecent exposure, Toobin is best known for attempting to bribe his much younger mistress—who was also his co-worker's daughter—to get an abortion in 2008. The journalist reportedly told the woman, Casey Greenfield, that he was "going to leave his wife for her." Upon learning she was pregnant, however, Toobin "questioned the paternity, balked at submitting to a test, and vowed to take no responsibility for a baby he wasn't sure was his."