There was a miscommunication. The recruiter intended to communicate that "VP-level committee is usually a safety check and pretty much a rubber stamp". That's the review layer above the main Hiring Committee.

If you got rejected by VP committee, that is unusual and work grumbling about -- and possibly constrained by amount of funding available for new hires.

The "come back in a year" is absolutely honest. Many people are hired a year, or 2, or 3 later. Google is happy to say "not sure / not yet" to people and "yes" later.