‘I Apologize for the Error’: Abby Phillip Corrects False Claim About NYC Terror Attack

(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP photo)

CNN’s Abby Phillip has corrected and apologized for a false claim she made about the terror attack carried out against far-right protesters in New York City over the weekend.

Teasing the next segment before a commercial break on Tuesday evening’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip said the following:

Up next, two Republicans say Muslims don’t belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani. And the House speaker, Mike Johnson, says nothing, really, to condemn those comments. Another special guest is going to be with us at the table when we come back.

But Mamdani was not the target of the attack.

Far-right protesters gathered outside of Gracie Mansion on Saturday to protest Mamdani and what they called the “Islamic Takeover of New York City,” where they were met by counter-protesters.

As the two groups confronted one another, a member of the latter group, Emir Balat, proceeded to hurl an improvised explosive device at the former. Balat and a co-conspirator, Ibrahim Kayumi, have been arrested in connection with the attack.

Authorities have since revealed that Balat and Kayumi were inspired by ISIS and confirmed that the right-wing protesters were their target.

Phillip’s identification of Mamdani as the target of the attack attracted quite a bit of attention online, and the host corrected herself on Wednesday morning.

“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,” she wrote in an X post on Wednesday “That wording was inaccurate and I didn’t catch it ahead of time. I apologize for the error.”

CNN also faced criticism on Tuesday over a tweet about the incident that read:

Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home. Here’s what we know so far.

The network later deleted the tweet and issued a statement acknowledging that it had “failed to reflect the gravity of the incident” and breached “the editorial standards we require for all our reporting.”

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