If he hasn’t been convicted, then he hasn’t factually broken the law. If he hasn’t factually broken the law, then saying he has is considered defamation and opens ProPublica up to lawsuits, and unfortunately, they would lose, since that would be textbook defamation.
That’s why everything like this gets wrapped in things like “allegedly” or “may have” because it allows them to report the facts of what happened and the laws in question without making that final link, which is something only the courts can do.
If he hasn’t been convicted, then he hasn’t factually broken the law. If he hasn’t factually broken the law, then saying he has is considered defamation and opens ProPublica up to lawsuits, and unfortunately, they would lose, since that would be textbook defamation.
That’s why everything like this gets wrapped in things like “allegedly” or “may have” because it allows them to report the facts of what happened and the laws in question without making that final link, which is something only the courts can do.