The "political" aspect of the situation is that a newspaper is reporting what an anonymous person says her friend told her in confidence years ago without any r

The "political" aspect of the situation is that a newspaper is reporting what an anonymous person says her friend told her in confidence years ago without any real corroborating evidence. If the media organization were not motivated by political animus they would not run such a flimsy story. Or, I don't know, maybe they would, but that's how I interpret "political".