Quite the warren of funhouse mirrors you’re constructing, there. Down the rabbit hole you go, lol.
If I’m going to break a “seriousness of the charge” fake story against a political foe, why wouldn’t I construct a simple honey pot for his defenders to latch onto the wrong debunking explanation so that I can go on the offensive and be the debunker after the story breaks? It’s not convoluted, it’s quite simple.