> Because in the past, when evidence has been presented, we've seen the federal intelligence community claim absolute certainty when they're actually only mostly-sure.

We've also seen them just fabricate things out of whole cloth, e.g. Iraq WMD.

It's generally best to read "according to sources in the intelligence community" as "according to professional liars who are aware you have no way of verifying anything they tell you."

Also keep in mind that revealing real classified intelligence to the media is a federal crime but making stuff up is totally legal.