Nope, that’s not how it’s done. You let out a little info to get some feedback, you might get lucky and get more info , or, you catch more false hoods trying to cover tracks. Then you counter with more revelations and wait for them to keep digging a deeper hole. Once you catch them in multiple lies, they are down for the count.
Cruz or the other parties involved won’t have to play along because NE covered their tracks, and did not really accuse them of anything but rumors.
The don’t have to acknowledge or deny it, because it was written in such a way that there is nothing to acknowledge or deny.
I know that some may hope this will draw someone out of the woodwork, but it is quite possibly wishful thinking, and that there is no woodwork to be drawn out from.
Every issue, someone “allegedly” cheats or is “rumored” to be dying.
Sometimes it is true, usually it is not.