Phelps's flacks allegedly offered the News "incentives" not to publish instead of a Hell, no! followed by a promise to sue the paper into bankruptcy. If that's the case, the non-denial denial speaks volumes.
So, to continue, the key word in your post is "allegedly". And it sure takes a lot longer than one day to sue a newspaper into bankruptcy. So not only does the "non-denial" NOT speak volumes, it's barely a sentence at this point.