Tipsheet

Here's a List of All the Hoaxes CNN's Broadcast Over the Years

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  March 18, 2026 4:00 PM

CNN hasn't exactly had a banner month. It started with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spanking CNN's Kaitlin Collins about the dignified transfer of our brave service members who died in Operation Epic Fury, and only went downhill from there.

Just a few days later, the network repeatedly shared the false news that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was the target of homemade IEDs that were thrown into a crowd of anti-Islam protesters near Gracie Mansion. They started by portraying the alleged bombers, Ibrahim Kayumi and Emir Balat, as "two Pennsylvania teenagers" who "crossed into New York City ... for what could've been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather." The post went on to say the pair's lives "would drastically change" after they were "arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest." CNN later deleted that post, claiming it "failed to reflect the gravity of the incident, thereby breaching the editorial standards" of the network. That post implied Mamdani was the target of the attacks, too.

Host Abby Phillip didn't get that memo, however, when she repeated the lie that Mamdani was the target of the failed bombing. "Two Republicans say Muslims don't belong here, after an attempted terror attack against New York's Mayor, Zohran Mamdani," Phillip said. She later apologized both in a post on X and on the air. Phillip said she didn't fact-check the statement, which is a funny way of saying she's CNN's Ron Burgundy because she reads whatever appears on the teleprompter.

Last week, they also ran interference for the Iranian state media by giving the regime uninterrupted airtime to spew its propaganda.

This isn't a one-off month for CNN, either. Here's a list of all the hoaxes the network has pushed.

That list is long, but includes:

  • Rural America can't live without NPR/PBS
  • ICE detains a five-year-old
  • Black newborns are much more likely to die if doc is white
  • Kamala was never America's Border Czar
  • Border agents whipping illegals
  • Georgia Jim Crow 2.0
  • MAGA assaulted Paul Pelosi
  • Hunter Biden's laptop is Russian disinformation
  • 900,000 kids hospitalized with COVID
  • Iowa 2024 poll
  • Biden's sharp-as-a-tack'

The list was compiled by journalist John Nolte.

Someone remembered that CNN defamed Navy veteran Zachary Young, too.

In January of last year, a jury found CNN defamed Young after claiming Young "exploit[ed] desperate Afghans" who were trying to leave the country after Joe Biden botched our withdrawal. The jury awarded Young $5 million in damages, and he later filed a lawsuit against the Associated Press in April 2025, alleging the network portrayed him as a "smuggler." That suit is ongoing.

Yes, it is.

Exactly.

CNN has proven itself to be not trustworthy.