Yesterday, CNN covered itself in glory with its coverage of the alleged ISIS-inspired would-be bombers in New York City. Over the weekend, two young men — identified as Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18 — hurled a homemade IED into a crowd of anti-Islam protesters who had gathered outside Gracie Mansion (thus proving the protesters' point, but we digress).
Thankfully, the device, loaded with bolts, nuts, and screws, didn't detonate.
But the media, ever eager to turn Democrats into victims and desperate to deflect criticism from Mamdani over his wife's love of the October 7 terror attacks, decided to turn them into the targets of this failed terror attack.
CNN ran a post and an article that not only made it seem like Mamdani was the target of the attack, but that the attempted terrorists were simply two teens from Pennsylvania who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They deleted that post, which was also the lede of the story, and issued a statement saying the post "failed to reflect the gravity of the incident." The lead reporter on that story, unsurprisingly, graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism and uses they/them pronouns.
But even in that retraction, if you call it that, CNN made it seem like Mamdani was the target of the attack. And Abby Phillip was all too happy to continue pushing that narrative on air last night, and to spin it to blame Republicans.
CNN's Abby Phillip claims that the attempted NYC bombing was "an attempted terror attack against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani."
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 11, 2026
The suspects were two Muslim terrorists who pledged allegiance to ISIS and were targeting anti-Islam protesters. pic.twitter.com/xtGIirLPb3
"Two Republicans say Muslims don't belong here, after an attempted terror attack against New York's Mayor, Zohran Mamdani," Phillip said.
Omitted from her remarks, of course, is the fact that Kayumi and Balat were inspired by and pledged allegiance to, ISIS. They are Muslims. If you apply Phillip's logic here, shouldn't we want them deported, because they targeted the Mayor of New York City?
She thought it was a chance to dunk on Republicans, which CNN never passes up an opportunity to do, but it just proved their point: Islam is incompatible with America.
How is this real?
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) March 11, 2026
We wish it weren't.
What a fitting ending to a day that began with a retraction for CNN. pic.twitter.com/OGYqKKL9Hi
— FugitiveMama (@fugitivemama) March 11, 2026
That's the deleted post, by the way. Incredible framing there.
They lie because they know they can.
— Sean Spicier - Former Tango Dancer (Parody) (@sean_spicier) March 11, 2026
Phillip will likely not have to retract those statements and, in the absence of Scott Jennings, no one on that panel would dare challenge her.
The misleading headlines were bad enough, but there is no excuse for a news host to simply mislead viewers about the target of the attempted terror attack. https://t.co/xdrprXatnw
— AG (@AGHamilton29) March 11, 2026
CNN will let her get away with it.
There is no excuse for this, of course. Mamdani was not the target of this attack, but that's the narrative the media has spun, and it's working. We've seen several people say they've heard from friends and relatives who believe Mamdani was the target, and that's what CNN wanted.