What are some examples of actions taken by different parties during the 2016 US Presidential Election?
Rubbish, Brandon. Nothing stopped Comey of the FBI of dumping the phony story about a new investigation in Hillary's email at a time when he knew it would influence the election. 
Nothing stopped Putin's trolls from putting out fake news articles to undermine the Democrats. 
Nothing either stopped Trump from lying over seventy percent of the time during the campaign. 
So, even if this turns out to be untrue, it's completely fair to publish it.