Fox weirds verbing: Watership downed

Another entry in Fox's where-does-that-pesky-inflection-go ledger! Unlike the last installment, which offered a couple of verb phrases ("lower booms" for "lowers boom" and "open fires" for "opens fire"), this one features a phrasal verb -- and, cleverly, poses as a quote without trying to represent one. The lede is standard Fox:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy scorched James Comey in a blistering opening statement at a high-profile congressional hearing on Tuesday, declaring “we can’t survive with a justice system we don’t trust.”

... but the only suggestion of watering down is in the sixth graf:

Gowdy accused Comey of watering down his initial statement on the investigation's findings and making other decisions on his own. While Comey has suggested he acted unilaterally out of concern for the Justice Department's handling of the case, Gowdy questioned why he didn't seek a special counsel -- as he indirectly did regarding concerns about the Trump administration. 

Fox is obviously a busy place these days. Do you suppose there are things Fox doesn't want you to read a lot about?