Actually reporters WILL try to interview people, even though they know full well nothing will come of it. They do it all the time because they can the aborted interview and ‘show’ that the person is a crook (since he won’t talk). They find the people at their home or at work, and then they run the aborted interview.
60 minutes is FAMOUS for doing that. But not here, never here. Sorry, but Sundance has a point.
Everyone in the "small group" DOJNSD and CounterIntel FBI had preferred contacts, typically at the big three: WaPo, NYT, or WSJ. The fact that they leaked nothing exculpatory to their cause during the Nunes' revelations tells you they've gone dark.