Jeffrey Toobin

Early life and education

Toobin was born to a Jewish-American family in New York City in 1960, a son of Marlene Sanders, former ABC News and CBS News correspondent, and Jerome Toobin, a news broadcasting producer. His younger brother, Mark, born in 1967 with Down syndrome, has lived apart from the family.

Toobin attended Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School. While attending Harvard College for undergraduate studies, he covered sports for The Harvard Crimson. 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.

Career

Toobin began freelancing for The New Republic while a law student. After passing the bar exam, he worked as a law clerk to U.S. circuit judge J. Edward Lumbard of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Next he served as an associate counsel for Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh during the Iran–Contra affair and Oliver North's criminal trial. He moved to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.

Toobin wrote a book, Opening Arguments: A Young Lawyer's First Case: United States v. Oliver North (1991), about his work in the Office of Independent Counsel, to which Walsh objected. Toobin had been required to sign multiple agreements to protect the confidentiality of grand jury and internal proceedings of the office. But he had taken thousands of pages of notes with him and based his book on such information, revealing material that Walsh believed should have been held as private. Toobin went to court to affirm his right to publish. Judge John F. Keenan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York wrote an opinion that Toobin and his publisher had the right to release this book. The book was published before Walsh's appeal could be decided, mooting the case. Accordingly, the Circuit Court vacated the lower court's decision and ordered the dismissal of the case.

After three years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Toobin resigned from the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, and abandoned "the practice of law." He started working as a writer at The New Yorker in 1993 and became a television legal analyst for ABC in 1996.

Toobin has provided broadcast legal analysis on several high-profile cases. In 1994, Toobin broke the story in The New Yorker that the legal defense team in O. J. Simpson's criminal trial planned to accuse Mark Fuhrman of the LAPD of planting evidence. Toobin provided analysis of Michael Jackson's 2005 child molestation trial, the O. J. Simpson civil case, and independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr's investigation of President Bill Clinton.

He published books on some of these cases: The Run of His Life: The People v OJ Simpson (1997), and A Vast Conspiracy (1999), about the investigation of Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. Each of these books was later adapted for television, the Simpson case as a mini-series, and the Clinton as an episode.

In 2000, Toobin received an Emmy Award for his coverage of the Elián González custody saga, which had resulted in the return of the boy from the United States to communist-led Cuba.

Toobin joined CNN in 2002 as a legal analyst. In 2003, he secured the first interview with Martha Stewart about the insider trading charges against her.

Toobin is the author of seven books. His book The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (2007) received awards from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

His next book was The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court (2012). American Heiress: The Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst (2016), explored events from the 1970s. All were New York Times Best Sellers.

He wrote True Crimes and Misdemeanors, the Investigation of Donald Trump (2020), described as a "summation for the jury" against the character and presidency of Donald Trump, as if he were on trial.

On August 12, 2022, Toobin announced via Twitter that he would leave CNN after 20 years. His last day on air was August 4. In February 2024, Toobin began appearing again on CNN as a frequent guest, offering analysis on both president Biden and former president Trump's current legal situations.

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. A Vast Conspiracy (1999), about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, was adapted as a series, Impeachment: American Crime Story (2021), in the FX anthology.

Zoom masturbation 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. 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." In November 2020, he was fired from The New Yorker, following an internal investigation by the parent organization, Condé Nast. New York Public Radio, which owns WNYC, indefinitely banned Toobin from its broadcasts and podcasts.

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. Irene Katz Connelly pointed out the parallels between him positioning perpetrators of sex scandals as victims in his writing with his response to the zoom incident. 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." Canadian 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."

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.

Personal life

In 1986, Toobin married Amy Bennett McIntosh, whom he met in college while they worked at The Harvard Crimson. She is a 1980 Harvard graduate, holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School, and has held executive positions at Verizon Communications and Zagat Survey. They have two adult children, a daughter and son.

Toobin had a longtime off-and-on extramarital affair with attorney Casey Greenfield, the daughter of American television journalist and author Jeff Greenfield and his first wife, Carrie Carmichael. Casey Greenfield was formerly married to screenwriter Matt Manfredi. Greenfield gave birth to Toobin's son in 2009; Toobin initially resisted acknowledging the boy. Toobin's paternity was confirmed with a DNA test as part of a suit by Greenfield for custody and child support.

Publications

Books

Essays and reporting

• Methods of execution.
• Justice Antonin Scalia.
• Toobin, Jeffrey (December 11, 2017) "Michael Flynn's Guilty Plea Sends Donald Trump's Lawyers Scrambling" New Yorker.

References

References

1. (June 1, 1986). "J.R. Toobin Weds Amy B. McIntosh". [[The New York Times]].
2. (August 12, 2022). "CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin will exit network after 20 years".
3. (August 12, 2022). "Scandal-tainted legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin exits CNN". [[Los Angeles Times]].
4. Sher, Cindy. (May 2, 2017). "Interview with CNN's Jeffrey Toobin, one of three best-selling authors to headline JUF Trade Dinner season". [[Jewish United Fund]] of Metropolitan Chicago.
5. Clehane, Diane. (October 10, 2007). "So What Do You Do, Jeffrey Toobin, Author?".
6. Mindell, Cindy. (August 20, 2010). "Q & A with... Marlene Sanders". [[Jewish Ledger]].
7. (December 15, 2020). "The Undoing of Jeffrey Toobin". The New York Times.
8. Jacobs, Samuel P.. (June 4, 2007). "Jeffrey R. Toobin". [[The Harvard Crimson]].
9. (May 23, 2013). "Author and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin '86 named this year's Class Day speaker". Harvard Law Today.
10. Eastland, Terry. (May 1991). "Above the Constitution?".
11. Toobin, Jeffrey. (1991). "Opening Arguments".
12. {{cite court. (March 1991). link
13. (January 16, 2004). "Toobin: Jackson courtroom 'like nothing I've ever seen'". CNN.
14. "Contributors: Jeffrey Toobin".
15. "Anchors & Reporters – Jeffrey Toobin". [[CNN]].
16. Elving, Ron. (July 31, 2020). "In 'True Crimes,' Toobin Presents A Summation For The Jury In The Case Against Trump".
17. Darcy, Oliver. (2022-08-12). "CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin will exit network after 20 years". [[CNN]].
18. (2024-02-17). "Trump Has 'Next to No Chance of Winning' When He Appeals $354 Million Judgment Against Him, Says CNN Legal Analyst".
19. (October 7, 2014). "FX Orders ''American Crime Story'' From ''American Horror Story'' Creator".
20. Metz, Nina. (September 7, 2021). "'Impeachment: American Crime Story' review: The show depicts the saga between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky but it feels like a dodge". [[Chicago Tribune]].
21. (October 20, 2020). "Jeffrey Toobin suspended by The New Yorker and is temporarily stepping away from CNN following report he exposed himself on Zoom". [[CBS News]].
22. Bauder, David. (June 20, 2021). "Jeffrey Toobin returns to CNN after Zoom call incident". [[Associated Press]].
23. Wulfsohn, Joseph A.. (May 3, 2021). "CNN silent as Jeffrey Toobin has had 'time off' for six months following Zoom masturbation scandal". [[Fox News]].
24. Wagner, Laura. (October 19, 2020). "New Yorker Suspends Jeffrey Toobin for Masturbating on Zoom Call". [[Vice news.
25. (October 19, 2020). "New Yorker Suspends Jeffrey Toobin After Zoom Incident". The New York Times.
26. Robertson, Katie. (November 11, 2020). "Jeffrey Toobin Is Fired by The New Yorker". The New York Times.
27. Saturday Night Live. "Madame Vivelda." ''YouTube'', October 24, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7hoynDj4WI.
28. (October 20, 2020). "How Jeffrey Toobin might have commented on the sex scandal he created". Forward.
29. Stelter, Brian. (June 10, 2021). "Jeffrey Toobin is back at CNN eight months after exposing himself on Zoom". [[CNN Business]].
30. Rush, George. (February 17, 2010). "CNN legal eagle Jeffrey Toobin in baby mama drama – with daughter of CBS News' Jeff Greenfield". [[New York Daily News]].
31. (November 21, 2004). "Casey Greenfield, Matt Manfredi". The New York Times.
32. Finn, Robin. (February 17, 2012). "Casey Greenfield v. the World". The New York Times.
33. "J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project winners". Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard <!--.
34. Profiles US Representative [[Barney Frank]].
35. Legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act.
36. [[Citizens United v. FEC]].
37. Bush v. Gore.
38. Discusses [[Baltimore City Detention Center]].
39. Online version is titled "Gawker's demise and the Trump-era threat to the First Amendment".
40. Online version is titled "Loretta Lynch's ideal of justice".
41. Online version is titled "The National Enquirer's fervor for Trump".
42. Online version is titled "Sex, spies, and clunky computers on 'The Americans'".
43. Online version is titled "The deceptive contrast between Trump and Kavanaugh".
44. Online version is titled "Andrew McCabe's countdown to the Mueller Report".
45. Online version is titled "The abortion fight and the pretense of precedent".