[Alberta's Child]

My take on this is that MSNBC knew beforehand that the tax returns came from someone who had obtained the copy legitimately.

These media people are partisan hacks, but they're not stupid. They have no aversion to fabricating stories, but they have a lot of legal exposure and they know it. They have legal departments that review this sort of thing before it goes out on the air to avoid problems with criminal prosecution.

[Gaffer]

Then your explanation belies the excuse the reporter gave in “finding it in his mailbox.”

Which one is it? They cannot play both sides of the street on this. Seems to me that the reporter already gave the provenance excuse away and with it any excuse that anyone “vetted it” in any manner.