Your theory is plausible. Has Garrett even made any public statement at all since this Whelan post appeared on Twitter? If not, his silence is deafening.
He has not made any public statement (Garrett) to deny or rebut.
Hatch’s assistant referenced the thread and directed folks to look there.
Drudge referenced the thread and sent people there.
Think was to box Ford into making a public denial of Garrett, which she has.
Will find out next week if it was part of a ‘gotcha’ or not.