 LaCorte denied making the statement to Falzone and said he killed the story because the evidence was not there, saying, "I was the person who made the call.I didn’t run it upstairs to Roger Ailes or others...I didn’t do it to protect Donald Trump," adding "[Falzone] had put up a story that just wasn’t anywhere close to being something I was comfortable publishing” and pointed out numerous ways in which Falzone's article failed to meet journalistic standards of verification.Nik Richie, who claimed to be one of the sources for the Falzone story, called LaCorte's account "complete bullshit," adding “Fox News was culpable.