I believe that the journalist was deliberately set-up. The psyop was to "poison the well" (deliberate disinformation of sorts) and make it impossible for the left to drag the Trump administration on the Yemen/Houti attacks
This was explained quite succintly by the late Gonzalo Lira. He explains the process in very simple terms. The video he made on teh subject is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr6R90DMyFY
As they say, change my mind. I look forward to your thoughtful and excellent trolls on this subject