The whole message on the site makes no sense and I think that's on purpose. What likely happened is the US gov found the TC authors, then used their weight to try and get them to back door the binaries. Authors didn't want to, but couldn't publicize the letters without going to jail, so they made up the most ridiculous story for why they were giving up on the project, the best possible outcome so that they wouldn't go to jail and wouldn't subject users to the required back door.
This my first thought when I read it and how it ended so abruptly. Conspiracy theories not withstanding, it's clear someone or some agency got to the developers and they just pulled the ejection seat for their own legal protection.
Can't say I blame them. I've had the feds show up where I lived once and I nearly shit a brick when I realized what was going on. You never want the weight the government beating down your back.
