Questions linger one week after Jeffrey Toobin’s return to CNN from workplace masturbation scandal

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Media top headlines June 17

Biden snapping at a reporter, being mocked for again using a prepared list of journalists to call on in Geneva, and a New York Times reporter claiming that teachers can’t explain Juneteenth to students for fear of ‘critical race theory backlash' round out today’s top media headlines

It’s been a week since legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin’s shocking return to CNN after he was caught masturbating on a New Yorker staff Zoom call, but questions linger about why the liberal network welcomed him back and who supported the decision. 

Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple bashed CNN in a piece headlined, "CNN still hasn’t explained its decision to reinstate Jeffrey Toobin." Five days have passed since Wemple called out the liberal network but the scathing column hasn’t resulted in any answers. 

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Wemple also asked if Toobin’s time off was considered a suspension, whether CNN made any demands about how he spent the time off, if he will be allowed to comment on sexual misconduct issues going forward, what the network considers a fireable offense, and if rank-and-file staffers were given a head’s up about the decision. 

"I have received no answers as of this morning," Wemple told Fox News on Thursday. 

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Toobin was missing from CNN for eight months after the Zoom incident resulted in The New Yorker swiftly firing him. CNN, Toobin’s other employer since 2002, granted him time off and refused to explain if he would ever return. Social media exploded when Toobin appeared in-studio with anchor Alisyn Camerota last week as she explained the scandal to viewers in a now-infamous, cringeworthy segment. 

The network has been silent on the decision to rehabilitate Toobin’s career, and he has since appeared on other CNN programs like "Don Lemon Tonight" and "New Day." 

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Afters Toobin’s return, CNN’s in-house media team reported, "Some anchors and hosts at CNN also expressed a desire to have Toobin back on their shows, since he has been a leading legal voice on television for decades."

The report didn’t name which anchors and hosts wanted him back and there haven’t been any high-profile endorsements of the decision by CNN personalities. As a result, questions linger about who exactly wanted him back. 

CNN did not respond to a series of questions, including whether or not any female staffers openly welcomed Toobin’s return and why he was reinstated in the first place. 

Fox News has reached out to multiple CNN hosts and anchors but none have been willing to admit on the record they lobbied for Toobin to return. 

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Toobin was reportedly seen hobnobbing at a New York City party Tuesday with a variety of CNN hosts and anchors, including Brian Stelter, Kate Bolduan, John Avlon, Ana Cabrera, Poppy Harlow, Christine Romans and Victor Blackwell. 

CNN’s liberal Republican commentator Ana Navarro defended Toobin to an extent, calling his return "embarrassing" and "humiliating" while trying to defend the decision at the same time.

"He didn't have the intent to sexually harass somebody. He was sexually harassing himself maybe, OK?" Navarro said on "The View." 

"It was not a CNN Zoom call. It was with The New Yorker, from where he has been terminated and faced consequences," she added. "I also think CNN is a for-profit business. If viewers don’t like it, then they should make their views known." 

Navarro bizarrely defended Toobin again on Wednesday when she mocked a critic for misspelling "chief" when calling the legal analyst CNN’s "chief masturbator." 

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"Girl, let me help you. It is spelled "chief," Navvarro wrote. "Remember, ‘I’ before ‘e,’ except after ‘c.’" 

Over the past week, Toobin and CNN have been the butt of too many jokes to count.

"Let the mockery rain down," Wemple wrote. "Why go easy on a network that won’t even defend its own actions?"