By "discrediting" it, the only thing you do is ensure that it'll make it another 24 hours in the media circus (and then there will be another claim that you have to refute or face claims that "but this time they didn't refute it!!!"). That game can be repeated ad nauseam, never leaving you off the hook and keeping the subject matter at the front of minds of everybody.
So maybe they never discredited it because they stopped jumping through every hoop that their opponents (Trump or otherwise) hold up for them?
So maybe they never discredited it because they stopped jumping through every hoop that their opponents (Trump or otherwise) hold up for them?