Jeffrey Toobin
May 21, 1960
Legal analyst, commentator
The New Yorker (1993–2020)
CNN senior legal analyst (2002–2022)
3
During the Iran–Contra affair, Toobin served as an associate counsel on its investigation at the Department of Justice. He moved from government and the practice of law into full-time writing during the 1990s, when he published his first books. He wrote for The New Yorker from 1993 to 2020.[4] Toobin was fired that fall for masturbating on-camera during a Zoom video conference call with co-workers; he apologized for his conduct and stated that he believed his camera was off.[5][6][7][8][9] He continued to serve as legal analyst for CNN for two years.
Toobin has written several books, including accounts of the 1970s Patty Hearst kidnapping and her time with the SLA, the O. J. Simpson murder case, and the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. The latter two were adapted for television as seasons of FX's American Crime Story, with the Simpson case premiering in 2016.
Early life and education
Toobin was born to a Jewish-American family[10] in New York City in 1960,[11] a son of Marlene Sanders, former ABC News and CBS News correspondent, and Jerome Toobin, a news broadcasting producer.[12] His younger brother, Mark, born in 1967 with Down syndrome, has lived apart from the family.[5]
Toobin attended Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School. While attending Harvard College for undergraduate studies, he covered sports for The Harvard Crimson.[13] His column was titled "Inner Toobin". Toobin graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history and literature and was awarded a Harry S. Truman Scholarship.
He attended Harvard Law School, where classmates included Elena Kagan, and he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated in 1986 with a J.D., magna cum laude.[14]
Adaptations
Two of Toobin's books were adapted for television. His book on the OJ Simpson trial was adapted as The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, a 2016 mini-series comprising the first season of the FX true-crime anthology series.[23]
A Vast Conspiracy (1999), about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, was adapted as a series, Impeachment: American Crime Story (2021), in the FX anthology.[24]
Zoom incident
On October 19, 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Toobin was suspended from The New Yorker after he masturbated on camera during a Zoom video call between New Yorker and WNYC radio staffers.[5][6][7][8][9] CNN said Toobin "has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted". Toobin said in a statement: "I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers."[25] In November 2020 he was fired from The New Yorker, following an internal investigation by the parent organization, Condé Nast.[26] New York Public Radio, which owns WNYC, indefinitely banned Toobin from its broadcasts and podcasts.[5]
Toobin was widely ridiculed in the wake of the incident by, among others, O. J. Simpson, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Maher, Donald Trump Jr., and performers on Saturday Night Live.[27] Defenders included Tina Brown, a former New Yorker editor, who said that "27 years of superb reporting and commitment to The New Yorker should have been weighed against an incident that horribly embarrassed the magazine but mostly embarrassed himself." Author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell said he "read the Condé Nast news release, and I was puzzled because I couldn't find any intellectual justification for what they were doing."[5]
On June 10, 2021, Toobin returned to CNN as its chief legal analyst. He described his conduct as "deeply moronic and indefensible" and said he "didn't think other people could see [him]", but admitted that this was no defense for his behavior. He said the time he spent off air went toward "trying to be a better person", working on his upcoming book about the Oklahoma City bombing, going to therapy, and working at a food bank.[28]