If they would talk about how "both sides of the aisle" were doing this, it would make it non-partisan, more news outlets would discuss it, and maybe there would be actions taken.
He told the reporter that never before had he been asked to actually lie.
There is a difference between truthful statements that deflect attention from one place to another and outright lies (be they lies of omission or commission), and it would be a counterfactual interpretation of the interview to report he said both sides of the aisle asked him to lie. They didn’t. That’s why he resigned, because this was something new and different and serious.
[edit to add the quotation for context]