I would guess that the <EMPTY>
in:
<STATE value="Verified">
<FIELDS>
<FIELD refname="Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ClosedDate">
<EMPTY />
</FIELD>
</FIELDS>
</STATE>
is conflicting with the assignment.
Try moving your <EMPTY>
's to the transitions instead of the states. That way when someone moves to a state, the field will still be emptied, you will get the same result, just a different implementation.