CNN Repeatedly Screws Up on Mamdani and Two Muslims With Bombs

Tim Graham on Mar 13, 2026

On March 7, two teenaged Muslims were arrested for lighting and throwing improvised explosive devices at an anti-Islam protest outside Gracie Mansion, the home of New York's Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

This provided the latest exhibit of how our elitist media seek to protect Muslims from the "Islamophobia" of conservatives. It's fascinating that when the extremism and "phobias" run another direction -- of Muslims being viciously antisemitic -- it doesn't outrage these people.

CNN has launched into an embarrassing week of false and insensitive coverage of these college-age jihadis. On Tuesday, CNN's X account tweeted this narrative: "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."

Within hours, they had taken down the tweet, but it mirrored the lede of its original CNN.com article by reporters Taylor Romine and Gloria Pazmino. It inspired a wave of satires, framing the Lincoln assassination, Pearl Harbor and other violent events into an idyllic frame.

Then, on Tuesday's edition of "CNN NewsNight," host Abby Phillip erroneously stated the bomb-throwers carried out "an attempted terror attack against New York's mayor, Zohran Mamdani" while heading into a commercial break. She later apologized and blamed it on whoever put these words into her teleprompter.

CNN commentator Ana Navarro repeated this lie just moments later: "Supposedly some of these comments are as a result of the attempt against Mayor Mamdani in New York, who was raised Muslim, was he not?" He was, but he wasn't targeted by these two Muslims.

On Wednesday, CNN reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere apologized on X after tweeting that Mamdani had messaged Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.) last year, "a fellow target of political violence."

Then there were overly vague allusions leaving the impression that Mamdani was targeted. Wolf Blitzer announced on "The Situation Room" on Wednesday: "Investigators are digging into the background of the two terror suspects accused of throwing homemade bombs near New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's home."

But according to a transcript search on Nexis, there's been nothing on CNN about the vicious social media "likes" of Rama Duwaji, the mayor's wife, celebrating the Oct. 7, 2023, mass murder in Israel, as reported by The New York Times on March 6. The only mention of her name came from Pazmino about the bomb incident: "I should mention that both Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the First Lady Rama Duwaji were safe. There were no injuries during this protest yesterday."

After Mamdani's victory last November, Pazmino did a puff piece celebrating Duwaji as "the first Muslim member of Gen Z to become first lady of New York City." Behind the scenes, she "advised Mamdani on how to better use social media." Oh, really?

This week, CNN was posting partisan attacks, like this one from political reporter Aaron Blake: "The GOP's increasing blind eye to anti-Muslim bigotry." That's pretty funny, considering CNN's blind eye on the celebration of genocide inside Israel. Blake even cited Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) mocking Mayor Mamdani for eating rice with his hands, saying, "Go back to the Third World."

CNN should find it more outrageous that someone would celebrate the slaughter on Oct. 7 than mockery of the eating habits of a Ugandan American. But that's not how CNN rolls. Their Islamophilia led them into a cascade of Fake News.

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Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.