Her biggest mistake was she believed the "Intelligence Community Assessment" (aka: "ICA"; aka "The Obama Dossier") that Russia was interfering in the election, and had taken over at least some significant systems such as the DNC and other RAT IT platforms.
Because of this, she thought the U.S. was virtually under attack and the investigation was warranted.
Yates was catapulted far up the ladder from AUSA to A.G. (for a few weeks) by people ahead of her leaving. She was not in a position in 2016-2017 to call out Brennan, Clapper, Comey et al. as LIARS.
Moreover, she tried to control Comey but was unsuccessful, as he evidently WENT AROUND HER STRAIGHT TO PRESIDENT ZERO (or, more likely, Zero went around her to Comey).
My biggest takeaway from reading the Yates transcript was the IMPORTANCE of the ICA ("Obama Dossier") to this whole plot.
I went straight from Yates to reading the Michael Henry transcript--President of Crowdstrike.
Henry had NUTHIN'. They alleged they "Recognized" some techniques of hacking that they had internally ascribed to the Russian Government. Proof of HACK? Only "Circumstantial", i.e., "How else could the documents have been provided to Wikileaks?
Yet, this pile of trash and lies is now taken as "Gospel" even by many so-called Republicans. IT MAKES ME SICK.
At one point, Henry even used the ICA as part of his "Evidence" of Russian HACK--EVEN THOUGH THE ICA ("Obama Dossier") relied TOTALLY on Crowdstrike!
You can't make this stuff up.
Incidentally, Henry (Crowdstrike) was asked about the theory that someone (i.e., Seth Rich) could have taken the DNC data using a thumbdrive. Henry said "No way," but was TOTALLY UNABLE to JUSTIFY this answer. He said his "Experts" told him so.
The whole Crowdstrike involvement and the subsequent ICA (i.e., Obama Dossier) is one of the BIG LIES of this coup d'etat ... right up there with the Steele dossier.
There aren’t any Q drops that suggest Yates is a cooperating witness. Others are named back in 2018 as being cooperating witnesses (Ohr, Priestap, Page, Strzok, Kortan), but not Yates. The drops about cooperating witnesses were back in 2018, so her flip status could have changed since then.
I thought it mattered since comey reported to her but went over her..