CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin admitted he felt “snookered” by disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti after the former political celebrity’s felony conviction for extortion on Friday night.

Toobin struck a penitent tone for his own network’s role in promoting the now-convicted felon. Avenatti was a regular on liberal mainstream media outlets such as CNN and MSNBC throughout 2018, frequently boasting of outlandish lawsuits that were set to finally take down President Trump.

In hindsight, after the “creepy porn lawyer’s” dramatic rise and fall, CNN is largely left with egg on their face for ever having taken him seriously. Toobin admitted this in the segment, showing more reflection than many of his mainstream media colleagues are inclined to undergo.

“I feel kind of snookered, because I took him seriously.”

Avenatti has been convicted for a scheme to extort tens of millions of dollars from sporting company Nike. He faces up to decades in prison in upcoming sentencing proceedings, and is currently housed in solitary in New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. He’s also set to face even more criminal charges in California, related to accusations he stole lawsuit rewards from his legal clients.

Avenatti’s rise and fall from cable news darling and pugnacious anti-Trump “fighter” to disgraced felon facing a possible life sentence is about as dramatic an arc one could expect to see a public figure undergo.

CNN and MSNBC now face some serious sole searching for their role in promoting the fraud, having taken his boisterous claims at face value for almost a year and even implicitly promoting his ridiculous presidential admiration. At least Toobin appears willing to admit his role in feeding the CPL’s ambitions.