An unhedged claim can't be quoted because there isn't one, but nobody claimed otherwise. Absolutist claims are, of course, an unrealistic bar for journalism. It's unclear why you are writing ominously/non-colloquially. I'm guessing you have some kind of unstated bias here, and are falling into the internet trope of speaking as though something doesn't even exist unless it is proven in a court of law or via formal math or something.