CNN anchor Abby Phillip is facing backlash after lying on air that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was the target of a terrorist attack over the weekend — a characterization that bears little resemblance to what investigators say actually happened.

During Tuesday evening’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip previewed an upcoming segment by telling viewers that Republicans were reacting to an “attempted terror attack” against Mamdani.

“Up next, two Republicans say Muslims don’t belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani,” Phillip said before the program cut to a commercial break.

The claim was not merely imprecise — it was flatly wrong.

The incident Phillip referenced took place Saturday outside Gracie Mansion, where far-right protesters had gathered to demonstrate against Mamdani and the “Islamic takeover of New York City.” Counter-protesters soon arrived, and tensions between the two groups escalated.

According to federal authorities, it was ISIS-inspired members of the counter-protest group — not the right-wing demonstrators — who carried out the attack.

Investigators say Emir Balat threw an improvised explosive device at the anti-Mamdani protesters during the confrontation. Balat and an alleged accomplice, Ibrahim Kayumi, have since been arrested in connection with the incident.

“These were ISIS-inspired actions,” Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Monday. “Violence, particularly violence that has a terrorist bent, violence that is meant to chill free speech, violence that is meant to prevent us from gathering peaceably, will be met with swift justice.”

Phillip’s framing of the event — suggesting that Mamdani himself had been the target of a terrorist plot — inverted the basic facts of the case.

The on-air error followed another questionable decision from the network earlier in the week.

CNN had previously posted a message on social media describing the arrests as involving “two Pennsylvania teenagers” who threw homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside Mamdani’s residence. Critics quickly pointed out that the suspects were not teenagers and that the description downplayed the seriousness of the alleged ISIS-inspired attack.

The network later deleted the tweet and issued a statement acknowledging that it had “failed to reflect the gravity of the incident” and violated the editorial standards required for its reporting.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)