I think it would be reasonable how The Hill's writers got their original story almost diametrically wrong. Their headline and first sentence pretty much empower cynicism: "Trump officials say ..."; The Trump administration said .... Specifically, the first word of the headline, and the second word of the story.
As the saying goes, a lie has circled the world before the truth gets its boots on. The Hill has some honest and decent writers, but the OP article suggests to me that Morgan Chalfant and Rafael Bernal are not among them.