Meghan McCain blasts CNN for 'protecting' Jeffrey Toobin following masturbation scandal: 'This is garbage'

"The View" co-host Meghan McCain blasted CNN for rolling the red carpet for its disgraced legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who previously went "on leave" after he was caught masturbating by his New Yorker colleagues on a Zoom call last fall. 

CNN stunned social media on Thursday when Toobin appeared on the network for the first time since his indecent exposure. "CNN Newsroom" anchor Alisyn Camerota interviewed her embattled colleague as he answered uncomfortable questions while keeping his hands visibly above the table.

Among other critics, McCain chastised the liberal network. 

TWITTER EXPLODES AT CNN'S JEFFREY TOOBIN COMEBACK FOLLOWING ZOOM MASTURBATION SCANDAL: ‘THIS IS CNN’

"This is garbage," McCain declared. "Why does the media protect these old white male dinosaurs in this industry?"

She continued, "No woman on PLANET EARTH would be welcomed back on network tv after being caught masturbating in front of her colleagues."

Toobin, who was swiftly fired from The New Yorker last year for his conduct, listened as daytime anchor Alisyn Camerota had the painfully awkward "honors" of describing what happened and its consequences. Toobin was witnessed by colleagues exposing himself and masturbating on a staff Zoom call, leading to widespread ridicule of the veteran journalist.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Camerota asked during the in-person interview, not a Zoom one.

"Well, obviously, I wasn't thinking very well or very much, and it was something that was inexplicable to me. I think one point -- I wouldn't exactly say in my defense, because nothing is really in my defense. I didn't think I was on the call. I didn't think other people could see me," Toobin said. 

Toobin claimed the New Yorker's investigation before its firing found no other complaints against him, although this wasn't his only sex scandal. Toobin fathered a child in 2009 with Casey Greenfield, the daughter of Toobin's onetime CNN colleague Jeff Greenfield. 

Toobin urged Greenfield to have an abortion and was later taken to court after he denied the child was his. Toobin was forced to take a DNA test which proved that he was the child's biological father and was ordered to pay child support.

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"Do you think… that the punishment fits the crime?" Camerota asked of his firing.

"I am the worst person to ask that question," he said. "I mean, obviously, I love the New Yorker. I loved working there. I felt like I was a very good contributor to that magazine for a very long time, and I thought this punishment was excessive, but look, you know, that's why they don't ask the criminal to be the judge in his own case. I mean, I thought it was an excessive punishment. I'm incredibly grateful to CNN for taking me back."

Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.