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CNN Actually Made Abby Phillip Apologize On-Air for Lying About the Attempted ISIS-Inspired NYC Bombing

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  March 12, 2026 8:00 AM

CNN host Abby Phillip did not have a great 24 hours. She was absolutely dragged for saying on-air the other night that Mayor Zohran Mamdani was the target of the attempted bombing in NYC over the weekend. That narrative popped up immediately after two ISIS-inspired Islamic terrorists, Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18, threw a homemade IED into a crowd of anti-Islamic protesters.

Phillip posted an apology on X yesterday morning, saying the "wording was inaccurate and I didn’t catch it ahead of time." Few people were impressed by this, as Phillip still implied Mamdani was a target of the attack even in her apology, and many wondered whether she'd address the false comments on her show rather than just on X.

Well, it turns out she did.

"This morning I issued a correction, first thing in the morning, on X for a mistake that I made in last night's show, but I also wanted to do so on air as well," Phillip said. "I incorrectly said that the bombs that were thrown by ISIS-inspired suspects in New York over the weekend were directed at Mayor Mamdani. They were not. I failed to catch and correct that mistake in real time, and I take full responsibility for that. And while we do make mistakes, it is important to acknowledge and correct those errors when they happen."

As several others pointed out, Phillip also "didn't catch" when guest Ana Navarro repeated the same narrative.

There were still some pertinent facts missing from Phillip's statement.

Nor did she mention who threw the bombs and why.

Phillip also dismissed the Islamic ties to terrorism.

We also had an Islamic terror attack in Austin, Texas, where Ndiaga Diagne, a naturalized citizen from Senegal, opened fire on bar patrons. Diagne was wearing a "Property of Allah" sweatshirt with an Iranian flag t-shirt underneath.

That's exactly what this is. They want Jake Lang, who organized the anti-Islam protest, to be painted as a "white supremacist," and the realization that Muslim terrorists actually proved his point harms that narrative.