> and verbally defending yourself is not capable of vindication while it can only be used as ammunition to the accusing party He tried to downplay the allegati

> and verbally defending yourself is not capable of vindication while it can only be used as ammunition to the accusing party He tried to downplay the allegations and, in the process, effectively admitted to sending the e-mail with the inappropriate content in the first place. The rambling Facebook posts also didn't help, but that's largely because they're so unprofessional and difficult to even parse. There are proper ways to acknowledge accusations and invite proper investigations. However, Aubrey de Grey's method of admitting the wrongdoing but trying to downplay it, followed by direct interference in the investigation, is not the correct way of handling this.