You're right, that "trying to distribute" seems to be an incorrect characterization of Brown's intent, which is why I have deleted the comment.
However, it's incorrect to fixate on the issue of hyperlinking per se. Whether a "link is not the documents" is just technicality. If he had intended, by hyperlinking, to actually distribute the documents, I don't believe the fact that he did so by hyperlinking as opposed to some other means would matter. However, here he has a strong case that he didn't intend to distribute the documents, but was just reporting the factual information that the documents were available. It all revolves around his intent, not the fact of hyperlinking.
However, it's incorrect to fixate on the issue of hyperlinking per se. Whether a "link is not the documents" is just technicality. If he had intended, by hyperlinking, to actually distribute the documents, I don't believe the fact that he did so by hyperlinking as opposed to some other means would matter. However, here he has a strong case that he didn't intend to distribute the documents, but was just reporting the factual information that the documents were available. It all revolves around his intent, not the fact of hyperlinking.