It means, "Deny, deny, deny." Even if they really believe that the email address is legitimate, they will still publicly question "the authenticity of O'Doherty's e-mail address on freerepublic.com" in order to plant the seeds of doubt in others.
It's not what they believe, it's what they can get others to believe.
-PJ
They know they're caught in the crosshairs, but they will keep lying and spinning and obfuscating until doomsday. 'Rats do not "come clean" even when there is video showing them accepting payoffs, so why would they 'fess up when they think they still have a chance to work their MSM butt-boys to spin their story for them???