“...possible the Times made the whole thing up...”
or probable that the Times made the whole thing up - I think it is a hoax just like the Steele fabrication was.
Right! You can’t out somebody who does not exist.
The slimes is either lying now, or or they were lying last week when they claimed that the deep state didn't exist.
Either way they are liars.
If we follow the Fake News development path propounded by the Wire, the hoax is the result of a progression of similar but less important previous articles.
Reather than looking to the White House for words or phrases, the analysis should be directed to works put forward by the Old Gray Whore.