I can't imagine that spat with a journalist mattered even a little bit one way or the other (and it's not exactly a consensus view that she came out looking bet

I can't imagine that spat with a journalist mattered even a little bit one way or the other (and it's not exactly a consensus view that she came out looking better than the CEO, though you clearly think that's the case). Mentioning it here sounds more like personal axe-grinding than anything else.