I don't think that's really fair. "Absolutely not" isn't even a good response to the question, which was essentially "Can you comment on these issues?" And if h

I don't think that's really fair. "Absolutely not" isn't even a good response to the question, which was essentially "Can you comment on these issues?" And if he had said that, people would be objecting, "But he didn't specifically say what claims he was saying 'Absolutely not' to, so my money is on him lying." No matter what he had said and regardless of how true or false it had been, people would be reading in lies. He's too detailed, he's too vague, he's too forceful, too weak, too formal, too informal — once somebody is convinced you're a liar, there is very little you can say to change their mind.