CNN fires producer indicted for sex crimes involving minors and their mothers

A CNN employee charged for sex crimes with minors has been fired by the network.

John Griffin, 44, was a producer for the CNN morning show New Day when he was arrested by the FBI on Friday. A grand jury indicted him on three counts of using instant message apps “to attempt to entice minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity.”

The Department of Justice accused Griffin of approaching mothers of underaged girls and trying to persuade them “let him train their daughters to be sexually submissive.” He is said to have argued that a “woman is a woman regardless of her age,” and that women should be sexually subservient to men because they are inferior to them.

"The charges against Mr. Griffin are deeply disturbing," a CNN spokesman told The Washington Examiner. "We learned of his arrest Friday afternoon and terminated his employment Monday."

CNN had suspended Griffin pending an investigation. He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison for each charge, with the potential for a life sentence.

DOJ offered examples of his attempts to induce minor girls into sexual activity over the last year through their mothers. In June 2021, Griffin allegedly convinced a mother of 9- and 13-year-old daughters to fly out to Boston with her younger daughter, telling her it was her responsibility to see that her daughters were “trained properly” and paying $3,000 for her airline tickets. He picked them up from Logan Airport “in his Tesla and drove them to his Ludlow[, VT] house,” where “the daughter was directed to engage in, and did engage in, unlawful sexual activity.”

Other specific allegations in the DOJ’s statement include an instance from April 2020, where Griffin proposed a “virtual training session” with a mother and her 14-year old daughter that would include him instructing the two to “remove their clothing and touch each other at his direction.” In June 2020, Griffin invited a mother and her 16-year old daughter to take a “little mother-daughter trip” to his Vermont ski house for sexual training.

Griffin allegedly offered to pay, then mentioned how he had “sexually trained girls as young as 7 years old.”

Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of property used in the crimes, including his Ludlow home and Tesla car.