You don't have to directly name a person to affect their reputation or his sense of security when there is only one individual in the community, and the entire state, that fits the identification.  That's one step shy of using Pig Latin.

"What was wrong with her bringing up information about the group they belong to and their ties to violence and radicalism"
First off, guilt by association is a terribly lazy way of thinking.  Secondly, there doesn't seem to be any factual basis to believe there are ties to "violence and radicalism" especially with the national investigative organization nixing the idea.  This leads to the third point of the tragedy of poorly researched stories especially after this election cycle's verbose content in fake news.  Which leads to a conclusion which questions Dembowski's judgment.  A question not only her acceptance of rumors as "facts" but also her belief that free speech means you can affect other people's lives without empathy or grace.