If that's their tack, then why make an announcement this morning? Maintaining status quo on their part would mean shutting up and waiting for Ivan to dominate the news cycle...
If the objective, or a desireable side effect, is to create maximum stink, to keep this issue on the news, then asserting that you are standing by the story is a logical tack.
It's only natural for us to think in terms of what is rational and reasonable. But it is a mistake to assume that CBS or the Democrat party is bound by those constraints.