CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin announced on Twitter Friday that he is leaving the network.
Friends, I’ve decided that, after 20 years, I’m leaving @cnn after my vacation. Was great to spend my last day on air with pals Wolf, Anderson and Don. Love all my former colleagues. Watch for my next book, about the Oklahoma City bombing, coming in 2023 from @simonandschuster
— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) August 12, 2022
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Toobin joined CNN in April 2002 as a legal analyst after a six-year stint in the same role at ABC News—and he established himself as a leading legal analyst on all of television. He has provided on-air analysis of a wide array of major legal stories while at CNN, ranging from the nomination of four Supreme Court Justices to the trials of Michael Jackson and George Zimmerman. At ABC, Toobin provided analysis of the O.J. Simpson civil trial and the Kenneth Starr investigation of the Clinton White House. He also received an Emmy in 2001 for his coverage of the Elian Gonzales custody saga.
However, Toobin will also be known for an embarrassing episode in fall 2020 where he was caught masturbating during a Zoom call between staffers at The New Yorker.
The New Yorker, for whom Toobin wrote for 27 years, suspended him in October 2020 in light of the incident—and then fired him a month later. He was not fired from CNN, however, with the network instead saying at the time that Toobin had asked for some time off “while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted.” This turned into a leave of absence without any clear sign of whether he’d ultimately return.
Toobin eventually returned to his chief legal analyst role in June 2021. He appeared on CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and, in addition to being interviewed about legal news, he addressed his absence from CNN and delivered an on-air apology for his behavior.
Toobin has also written several books, including accounts of the O. J. Simpson murder case and the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky scandal, both of which have been adapted for TV as seasons of the FX anthology series American Crime Story. More recently, he wrote and published True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump, which was released Aug. 4—and the aforementioned Oklahoma City bombing book, which is set to publish next year.