“Maybe it’s not true, but why not provide a list of groups he spoke to and remove all doubt?” the aide said.

Yeah.

Same with

“Maybe it’s not true, but why not provide a birth certificate and remove all doubt?” the aide said.

or

“Maybe it’s not true, but why not provide a copy of the long birth certificate and remove all doubt?” the aide said.

Surely Hagel providing a list of groups spoken to would have cleared everything up and eliminated all further inquiries about groups spoken to. //