CNN Host's Tortured Explanation for Getting the NYC Bomb Attack Target Wrong

As we reported earlier, CNN's Abby Phillip had a very bad take on the NYC bombing attack against a protest outside of Gracie Mansion. Phillip claimed during her show on Tuesday night that the attack was targeting Mayor Zohran Mamdani, when all the facts show that it was targeting the protest.

CNN's Abby Phillip claims that the attempted NYC bombing was "an attempted terror attack against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani."

The suspects were two Muslim terrorists who pledged allegiance to ISIS and were targeting anti-Islam protesters. pic.twitter.com/xtGIirLPb3
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 11, 2026

She said that about midway through the show, about 25 minutes in. But she also said it at the beginning of the show — that it was targeting the New York mayor.

Phillip got a huge backlash on the clip on social media. She's now tweeted an apology for her comments.

I want to correct something I said last night. The bombs thrown in New York City over the weekend by ISIS inspired attackers was thrown into a crowd of anti-Muslim protestors and not specifically targeted at Mayor Mamdani. That wording was inaccurate and I didn’t catch it ahead…
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) March 11, 2026

I want to correct something I said last night. The bombs thrown in New York City over the weekend by ISIS inspired attackers was thrown into a crowd of anti-Muslim protestors and not specifically targeted at Mayor Mamdani. That wording was inaccurate and I didn’t catch it ahead of time. I apologize for the error.

First, "not specifically" is doing a lot of work there when Mamdani was not targeted at all. Even her "apology" is not quite right.

Then what the heck is she talking about, "inaccurate and I didn't catch it ahead of time"? How does she not know who the target is, days after the event? Is she just reading a script and not even reacting to what she's reading? How do you not stop and correct yourself?

Did she herself not even know? We saw many media outlets obscuring the reality in their headlines. Even Mamdani's initial statement made it sound like it was the protesters who were behind the bombs.

Violent IED Attack at NYC Protest Gets the Media Treatment: Blame the Protest, Protect the Narrative

Oh, and as I reported, she said it twice, so they didn't catch when she said it at the beginning of her program and at 25:32 into the program? Didn't anyone interrupt in the meantime and say, "Um, that's wrong?" It tells you what the stuff that CNN is putting out is worth. Either they wrote it falsely and failed to catch it, or they wanted it that way.

Phillip has now apologized in a tweet. She needs to apologize on air, in the same forum where she told the falsehood. But the harm has already been done.

People weren't buying it.

“Inaccurate” is an awfully generous way of saying “dead wrong,” but hey close enough. You can’t expect a newscaster to know the top lines of a terrorist attack some 72 hours after the fact. https://t.co/z0xZalfurf
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) March 11, 2026

When your mistakes only go in one direction, they're not mistakes, they're just glimpses of your underlying bias https://t.co/SrikXqxavl
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) March 11, 2026

Flashback: Abby Phillip explains to Joy Reid that her job is to ensure conservatives hear "the facts” because they live in "a completely different information world."

“When you don't ever even hear the facts, it's hard to even know that you're wrong."

Beyond parody. https://t.co/XeopyM3Qsj pic.twitter.com/0irbxrQORx
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 11, 2026

Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

Help us continue to expose their left-wing bias by reading news you can trust. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.