The splitting hairs is rather amusing - was he told in person after the original briefing with the intelligence community was held - well according both to Trump at the press conference, as well as the original reports of CNN/Buzzfeed - yes he was.
So essentially, they are trumpeting something they had already claimed and reported as true, now finding out that yep that single line was true, and pretty much making a fool of themselves.
It's like a twisted version of musical chairs, except they talk over the first music round and don't notice when it quits playing so nobody takes their seats - confused the ref plays the music again and stops it, then they all run around like chickens and get their butts in chairs. Whilst they congratulate each other about a round well played, the rest of America just shakes their head at the stupid...
