Networks Downplay Islamists With IEDs in NYC, Blame Radio Host, ‘Far-Right’ ‘Influencer’

Curtis Houck
March 9th, 2026 4:15 PM

Text to Speech

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Between Saturday night and Monday morning, ABC, CBS, and NBC used their flagship morning and evening newscasts to put “far-right,” “insurrectionist” Jake Lang on equal footing for blame alongside two ISIS-inspired Islamic terrorists for the latter allegedly chucking improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at a crowd Lang had assembled outside New York City’s Gracie Mansion to protest the city’s far-left, Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

The worst example came on Sunday’s CBS Weekend News as — in a moment first flagged by the great Johnny MAGA — they placed a still photo of a Trump supporter under the caption “Terrorism Investigation,” as if to imply the terrorism had been perpetrated by MAGA.

Anchor Jericka Duncan was wildly vague: “Tonight, the FBI is investigating two men after an explosive device with bolts and screws was thrown into a crowd. It happened in New York City on Saturday during a protest that turned violent outside the mayor’s official residence.”

“New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim, was inside Gracie Mansion when a small anti-Islam protest took place here yesterday afternoon. A larger counter-protest then showed up and police say two men who were part of that group brought those homemade devices,” correspondent Shanelle Kaul began.

After showing the moment 18-year-old Emir Balat tried and failed to detonate one of the IEDs, Kaul said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters, in Kaul’s summation, “it could have caused serious injury or death.”

Once she named Balat and “his 19-year-old friend Ibrahim Kayumi” as his accomplice, Kaul blamed the incident on the “anti-Islam demonstration led by Jake Lang...a pardoned U.S. Capitol insurrectionist” (click “expand”):

KAUL: Authorities say they were part of a group of nearly 125 people counter-protesting, a much smaller anti-Islam demonstration led by Jake Lang —

LANG: The violent left! They hate freedom of speech.

KAUL: — a pardoned U.S. Capitol insurrectionist who has frequently sought out political confrontations in the months after President Trump gave him clemency. In a statement, Mayor Zohran Mamdani saying “yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism,” adding, “what followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable.” And police also say they found a third device in a vehicle just down the street from here the FBI, now investigating this as terrorism and, Jericka, sources telling CBS News authorities are also now working to determine if either of those two men were inspired by ISIS

The first network coverage, though, came Saturday on ABC’s World News Tonight with an esoteric news brief by weekend anchor Linsey Davis 

Next tonight, two people arrested after a suspicious device went off during an anti-Muslim protest here in New York. The protests outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, prompting counter protesters to show up as well. Two were arrested for allegedly throwing what is believed to be a smoke bomb. No injuries reported.

By Sunday, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Sunday Today featured three combined news briefs on the bombs. In ABC’s second, co-host Janai Norman left it so vague that one could have easily concluded someone connected to “far-right, anti-immigrant figure Jake Lang” was responsible (click “expand”):

GIO BENITEZ: And we have a lot of news to get to here this morning, starting with the security scare at the New York City mayor’s residence, the FBI’s joint terrorism task force is now investigating suspicious devices thrown during a protest as possible acts of terrorism.

(....)

NORMAN: New this morning, New York City police say six people were arrested during a protest and a counter protest near the official residence of New York City’s mayor. Police say two suspicious devices were found. Jars filled with nuts, bolts and screws, and a hobby fuse they say one protest of about twenty people was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant figure Jake Lang. About 125 people were part of the counter protest. The FBI’s New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force says it is investigating the throwing of suspicious devices as possible acts of terrorism.

As for NBC, host Willie Geist said the “incendiary devices” were thrown “towards a small group of anti-Islam protesters led by a right-wing influencer.”

Shifting to Monday morning, the both-sides-ing continued. 

Duncan shifted from the anchor desk to field correspondent for CBS Mornings and, while she didn’t have the misleading graphic, she led with this and relegated the IEDs to the second sentence: “Protesters and counter-protesters of an anti-Islam rally clashed on New York City streets outside Gracie Mansion, Saturday. Police allege 18-year-old Emir Balat threw an improvised explosive device into the crowd.”

For those who stuck around long enough to watch the piece, Duncan increasingly focused on the bombs and terrorism (click “expand”):

DUNCAN: You can then see him grab what may be a second device from 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi. Balat appears to try and light it before police chased him down the street, tackled Balat and handcuffed him. Neither device exploded. Police also arrested Kayumi. Investigators are now looking into whether they were inspired by ISIS extremist messaging.

TISCH: The devices appear to be a jar wrapped in black tape along with a hobby fuse.

DUNCAN: On Sunday, a third suspicious device was found in connection with the investigation. [SHOUTING] The original anti-Islam protest was organized by far-right influencer Jake Lang, a January 6 insurrectionist who was granted clemency by President Trump. Mayor Zohran Momdani, who is Muslim, said “white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism...What followed,” he said, “was even more disturbing.” CBS News law enforcement contributor Richard Esposito.

RICHARD ESPOSITO: They will work CIA’s in there. They’ll work hard now to take apart who else these people might be connected to. And, in the longer term sense, are there people we need to watch?

DUNCAN: The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is now investigating which could mean federal charges could be next. Now, we’re expected to learn more at a news conference right outside of Gracie Mansion later today[.]

ABC’s Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan merely alluded to “a potential act of terrorism” is “under investigation here in New York after authorities say at least one explosive device was thrown into a protest outside the residence of Mayor Mamdani.”

Chief investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky said the crowd “began anti-Muslim protest at the home of New York’s first Muslim mayor,” but quickly grew and “ended with a counter-protest that’s now being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.”

He said the devices were chucked “during the chaotic, dueling protest that were started by far-right provocateur Jake Lang under the banner, ‘Stop the Islamic takeover of New York City’” that Mamdani denounced as “rooted in bigotry and racism.”

Only then did Katersky concede the suspects with IEDs allegedly “told investigators they had watched ISIS propaganda videos and were there to defend Muslims.”

NBC’s Today went a completely different route. While they focused more on the real story that two Islamic terrorists nearly carried out a mass casualty event, correspondent Sam Brock tied the crowds to WABC’s “polarizing talk show host” Sid Rosenberg’s comments last week calling Mamdani “a jihadist before later apologizing.”

“According to two people familiar with the investigation, initial tests of the device revealed TATP, a volatile and dangerous type of homemade explosive. Also according to two sources familiar with the matter, both men allegedly made pro-ISIS statements during their arrest and investigators are now looking at their past travel outside the country,” Brock added.

To see the relevant transcripts from March 9, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC). To see the relevant transcripts from March 7 and 8, click here.

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