Colud be someone bragging to someone not expecting it to work all the way out to the media.

Or a narrative that is probably fairly described, but editorialized. E.g. if they did state the fact they had the help of psychologists in negotiating, that statement by itself doesn't necessarily insult a man that thinks only very smart people pass cognitive tests.

So the reporting actually extrapolates into the obvious, but unstated implications of why pyschologists would be useful in this situation.