Journalism today is tossing 100 allegations into the air where they hit the top of the Twitter feed. If 99 of them turn out to be false, nobody cares but you'll earn a Pulitzer if one of them just by pure dumb luck turns out to be true.
Since there's no longer any recourse for publishing false stories, "journalists" have nothing to lose tossing a bunch of BS against the wall and seeing what sticks. By the time this story falls apart, there will be something different at the top of the Twitter feed.