With Mr. Kalanick, Mr. Gurley is said to have a tight relationship. He is Uber’s most engaged board member and the closest thing Mr. Kalanick has to a consigliere
Umberto Eco talks in Foucault's Pendulum about how when you believe a conspiracy theory, evidence against the conspiracy theory becomes evidence for the conspiracy theory because you believe it's part of the cover-up.
In this case, I think the easier dismissal would be to simply say, "I think that Kalanick's relationship with Benchmark soured over time."