The battle of the bulge

Everyone's aware that the bulges are clearly a bulletproof vest, right? Why are people still thinking it's a wire in all seriousness? Look at any website selling concealable body armor and you can see what would cause such a bulge. And why aren't people hammering on the white house for lying about it not being a vest? Does the white house consider it a sign of weakness they don't want to fess up to? I think everyone can understand why a sitting president would be wearing a vest (wouldn't you?), but I don't see why they'd flat out lie about it. It seems like a tiny blip that could blow up into a major story if they're not careful.