Initially, national and local press reaction to the revelations was more muted than the investigative team had expected. Chiquita categorically denied the allegations but did not offer an explanation for the voicemails and internal documents. On May 14, Larry Birns of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs replayed some of the voicemail messages at a news conference. In response, Kirkland & Ellis sued Gallagher and threatened to sue the "Enquirer" as well. The "Enquirer" concluded that Gallagher had obtained the voicemail messages through voicemail hacking, rather than from an authorized Chiquita executive, as he had originally claimed. By mid-June, it began negotiating an out-of-court settlement with Chiquita.