I have wondered if they (Mcabe, and other DS) thought the Trump team would cower when Flynn was charged and fall in line, like others would have done. They still don’t know who they are dealing with, or maybe some are beginning to?
I think part of what was going on was an effort to get Trump to “play ball”, while at the same time, they wanted to try to get rid of him no matter what. His refusal to play ball only intensified what they were going to try to do anyway.