This is a tactic the left uses well.
Example: Leftist Politician knows a story is going to break on his taking illegal campaign contributions. So they will plant a story that Leftist Politician takes money from Children's Charity for campaign coffers. Then it will be reported that the story is false because there was no money taken from a Children's Charity. And the real story gets buried under the false story.
Snopes, actually the Inquisitr’s Kim Lacapria almost single-handedly, is a master of bait-and-switch when it comes excusing and lying about Democrat perfidy.