CNN's Anti-Trump Chief Legal Analyst Suspended for Exposing Himself on Video Call
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is on voluntary leave from the network and was also suspended by The New Yorker after he allegedly exposed himself during a Zoom meeting.
Vice first reported on the incident and suspension Monday.
“Jeffrey Toobin, CNN’s chief legal analyst and a renowned reporter for The New Yorker, has been sidelined at a pivotal moment in the run-up to the presidential election,” CNN reported Tuesday.
“The reason: He exposed himself during a Zoom call with colleagues in what he says was an accident,” the report said.
Staffers at The New Yorker told Vice that Toobin was masturbating during a remote company video call.
According to the report, two other people who were on the call said that during the meeting, those in attendance participated in an election simulation activity featuring employees of The New Yorker and WNYC radio.
That’s when Toobin, a frequent critic of the Trump administration, began pleasuring himself for everyone on the call to see, Vice reported.
The CNN political commentator seemed to confirm his behavior Monday.
“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,” the 60-year-old Toobin said in a statement to CNN.
“I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video,” he said.
A CNN representative said, “Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted.”
As a result of his actions, Toobin apparently will not be part of CNN’s election coverage over the next few weeks.
He has been with the network since 2002.
Toobin is the author of “True Crimes and Misdemeanors,” a book that is critical of President Donald Trump.
He reportedly has canceled an event relating to the book.
Toobin notably has made many comments about alleged sexual misconduct involving conservatives.
Last year, he tweeted, “Forty percent of the Republican appointees to the Supreme Court have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct.”
Forty percent of the Republican appointees to the Supreme Court have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct. #SCOTUS
— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) September 15, 2019
The CNN legal analyst in 2018 unleashed on then-Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who faced unsubstantiated accusations of sexual improprieties as a teenager.
“This is sickening to watch. I’m sorry. I just find this excruciating,” Toobin said on CNN during the testimony of Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, The Hill reported.
He added, “I mean, someone thinks this woman is lying? I mean, just the idea that anyone could consider this [to be] false testimony.”
Toobin also said, “I’m seeing it on social media, I’m seeing it in people I know. … Women who have undergone experiences like this saying ‘I can’t watch this,’ because it is a triggering experience.”
Other videos of Toobin’s commentary on Kavanaugh was circulating online Tuesday:
Reminder: Jeffrey Toobin had a lot to say about Brett Kavanaugh, including that there need not be any actual evidence against him if eye witnesses confirmed Ford’s account.
In Toobin’s situation, there are far more than just one eye witness… pic.twitter.com/bwqcR3RyM0
— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) October 20, 2020
Now embroiled in a scandal of his own after he allegedly exposed himself to numerous people, including women, and masturbated on camera, Toobin will go quiet for the time being with regard to both of his high-profile establishment media jobs.
It is unclear when or if he will return to CNN’s political coverage lineup.
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