CNN host Abby Phillip issues on-air correction over Mamdani remark

CNN host Abby Phillip issued an on-air correction Wednesday night and said she takes “full responsibility” for misstating the target of an ISIS-inspired attack in New York City. Phillip said she had earlier apologized on X for the error.

“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,” Phillip told viewers. “I failed to catch and correct that mistake in real time and I take full responsibility for that.”

The incorrect claim was repeated Tuesday by CNN political commentator Ana Navarro and was corrected on air by Republican panelist Joe Borelli. “To be clear, the attack wasn’t on Mayor Mamdani,” Borelli told Navarro, saying the devices were thrown at protesters and counterprotesters.

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere also deleted a post on X that he said inaccurately implied Mamdani was the target and issued a correction, writing that law enforcement officials had said the suspects threw improvised explosive devices at an anti-Islam demonstration and a counterprotest near Mamdani’s home but had not said he was the target. CNN said a now-deleted post about the suspects failed to reflect the gravity of the incident and breached the network’s editorial standards.

Authorities charged Pennsylvania residents Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, with material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and use of a weapon of mass destruction after they allegedly threw explosive devices at law enforcement and demonstrators outside Gracie Mansion during a protest near Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home, the report said. Both men are U.S. citizens; the report said one set of parents are naturalized citizens from Turkey and the other set are naturalized citizens from Afghanistan.

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