Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of negligence when the crucial data went missing, the CEO defused a situation that was quite tense with her public statement that the debacle was not Smith’s fault.A. a situation that was quite tense with her public statement that the debacle was not Smith’s faultB. a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s faultC. a situation, which was quite tense, by stating publicly that Smith was not responsible for the debacleD. a quite tense situation with a public statement about the debacle not being Smith’s faultE. a quite tense situation by publicly stating the debacle not to have been Smith’s fault

Option D and E use the phrase, 'a quite tense situation' hence can be ruled out for not being clear and simple in statement. Option C puts an important piece of information within commas (...situation, which was quite tense, by...) thereby assuming it as a non-essential detail, therefore it is also wrong. The problem with option A is the fact that it is not clearly describing whether the statement was given personally by the CEO or conveyed by someone else to the public. Considering above details we can see that option B is the only answer that defines the problem with clarity.