Aside from the story itself, and whether we agree or disagree with the final choice...

The article writer: BEN FELLER, is a guy to watch. Being AP, he can spread story quite broadly, and is apparently trusted by "anonymous White House source"s as a good "leak to" asset.

Or...

he totally made the stuff up on his own. Or got purposely lied to. I'm betting 'not', this being a trial balloon, he being the trial balloon releaser.