He lied.
They reported.
Maybe the reportage was laid on a bit thick.
He lied when he walked back the story. What he originally said turned out to be true.
That he lied to help get his teammates out of the Hostage crises they found themselves in, I don't blame him.
A lot of people would be willing to walk back what they originally said if it gets their friends out of the clutches of a corrupt police department in a South American third world sewer.