Well yes & no. The fact that they bought some of his articles, but he has never been an employee of theirs, means technically they have not lied. But also true is the fact that they are not being totally forthcoming either.
Transparency is the operative word here. They like to apply it to conservatives but never to themselves OR they just flat out lie about it.
He wrote articles for them. They did not say he was never their employee; they said he never did any WORK for them, which is a lie. He produced articles and was paid by them for his work--that he produced for them.
If he accepted money for work he did for them, he's never been employed by them? Yeah, right! Like if a woman accepts some cash from a guy after sex, she's not a whore. But freelancers do negotiate terms of pay before a service, so technically freelancers have been employed. He is more technically an employee, whereas a woman in my example is not a whore. You're right, they're not forthcoming on the facts.