Sorry to quote myself, but the reason I am asking this is bc the play on words.
Its just very vague when he says "the media wasn't the only ones being smokescreens"...
One could go in many different directions with this statement. I'm not trying to call him out, but this is what I do for a living and when someone starts to realize they are about to get caught in a lie they start scrambling and try to find ways to play with wording to get that person or people to believe them.
i.e. If he's wrong about this whole thing, he can always fall back on, "guys don't you remember where I said the "media" wasn't going to be the only smokescreen? I was saying these things to get your attention off such and such (whoevers hired).
I don't know this guy, but you all seem to feel like he is credible so I'll trust you all. Just wanted to point out something that were red flags to me.
ps. Remember this guy is banning himself if he is wrong, he may be trying to find ways to where he can convince people it was all part of the plan so people won't let him ban himself.