bump
"We were not able to authenticate the documents as thoroughly as I think we should have, given a little more time perhaps we could have." [emphasis mine]
Given a little more time for what? If they needed more time to get to the truth why didn't they take it? The only reason Rather would say such a thing is because they were not interersted in the truth, there was an election coming up, and they were running out of time to influence the outcome.
Cordially,