CNN Commentator Ana Navarro Faces On-Air Correction Over False Attack Claim
CNN political commentator Ana Navarro found herself scrambling during Tuesday's NewsNight broadcast after incorrectly stating that an ISIS-inspired attack over the weekend had targeted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The panel discussion quickly turned contentious when former New York City Council Republican Joe Borelli corrected Navarro's erroneous assertion.
The Actual Incident Details
According to authorities, suspects Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, attempted to detonate homemade explosives near a group of far-right protesters gathered outside Gracie Mansion. The protest had been organized against what demonstrators called an 'Islamic takeover of New York City,' specifically referencing Mayor Mamdani. The attack was directed at the protesters, not at the mayor himself.
Navarro made the false claim during a panel debate about whether Republicans were using the failed attack to stir up anti-Muslim sentiment. 'What I find ironic is - so, 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?' Navarro told the panel.
Immediate Correction and Deflection
Borelli was quick to intervene: 'The attack wasn't on Mayor Mamdani. It was attacking protesters, people protesting Mamdani.' Despite this clear correction, Navarro insisted, 'It was at his house!' repeating the claim twice as Borelli attempted to explain the actual circumstances.
'It wasn't- to frame it as an anti-Muslim attack would actually completely reverse what happened,' Borelli continued, noting that Balat was heard shouting 'Allahu Akbar' before hurling a bomb that failed to detonate. At this point, Navarro appeared to deflect the conversation, eventually steering the panel away from the factual correction.
Additional CNN Errors and Corrections
Host Abby Phillip made a similar mistake during her introduction to the segment, stating: 'Up next, two Republicans say Muslims don’t belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York’s Mayor, Zohran Mamdani.' Unlike Navarro, Phillip was not corrected on-air but issued an apology on social media the following morning.
'I want to correct something I said last night,' Phillip wrote on X. '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.'
Navarro, an anti-Trump conservative who has been with CNN since 2014, has not issued any public apology for her incorrect statements.
CNN's Additional Reporting Error
In a separate incident earlier on Tuesday, CNN published and subsequently deleted a tweet about the same case that downplayed the seriousness of the event. The tweet described the suspects as 'two Pennsylvania teenagers' who simply 'crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could've been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather.'
A CNN spokesperson told The Daily Mail that the post 'failed to reflect the gravity of the incident thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It has therefore been deleted.'
Investigation and Charges
Both suspects have been charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction. According to federal complaints, Balat stood with counter-protesters during the incident, and both suspects told police they wanted the attack to be 'even larger' than the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people.
Officials confirmed the men traveled together from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to the protest site shortly before the attack. Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated: 'This was an alleged ISIS-inspired act of terrorism that could have killed American citizens. We will not allow ISIS’s poisonous, anti-American ideology to threaten this nation.'
FBI Assistant Director James C. Barnacle, Jr. and NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch both confirmed the suspects were 'inspired by ISIS,' with Tisch specifically calling the failed strike 'an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism.' Both Balat and Kayumi remain in custody as of Wednesday.
The panel discussion eventually returned to its original topic about anti-Muslim rhetoric, particularly after GOP Congressmen Andy Ogles and Randy Fine called for the deportation of all Muslim people in the United States following the incident. However, Navarro's initial false claim about the attack's target went uncorrected for the remainder of the broadcast segment.
