They painted themselves into a corner from which they could not gracefully exit. And these people are anything but graceful.
Nobody considered even the remotest possibility of the testing being incorrect, or flawed in any way whatsoever. From that moment on, their every waking hour seemed to be devoted to backing up their initial statements. And they've continued backing up those statements despite many opportunities to add a bit of well-placed concern that something might not have gone quite right.
