In addition (not a lawyer here, but I believe this is well established territory), defamation is difficult to prove, and suing someone over an article almost always carries some negative press, regardless of the merits.
That’s the point, I mentioned the difficulty in fact. But he chose to step across that bridge and then abandon it. What else can we conclude other than, heat of the moment emotional decision, or that the merits were, if morally strong enough, not legally strong enough?