[yamtaddle]

Well, he later claimed he'd said something incredibly stupid on purpose to troll reporters. Didn't come off that way in the briefing, but... I mean, seems fair to judge the statements as incredibly stupid when our options are to judge them at face value or to believe him when he tells us they were dumb (on purpose). I don't see a lot of room for giving him the benefit of the doubt that he had something smart in mind and just didn't communicate clearly, under those circumstances.

We're left with three options, basically, and the one that allows his statements to be not-dumb requires that we believe he told a childish "nuh uh, I meant to say a dumb thing!" lie (in this version, the lie is that it was dumb on purpose, because we're asserting it was not dumb at all) later. The other options are that he said something dumb then lied that he did it on purpose (from his pattern of behavior, I judge this far and away the most likely), or that he said something dumb but told the truth that he did it on purpose (which is, like... still not what the kids would call a great look, right?)