Again, I do believe that he led everyone to believe that he was gonna “do something” THIS time. Knowing as you say, “he didn’t have the authority to do anything”.
Gowdy also had to navigate around the issue of executive privilege, one element of which means that advice give. To the President by his advisors is privileged. That means you've got to go the long way around and try to build a bunch of inferences to make a case. And on top of that, it's unlikely that there was an actual crime committed anyway.
The nature of the process is that it requires an incredibly long time when they're dealing with an uncooperative, stonewalling executive branch.
I can guarantee they'll release a very comprehensive report to the erican people before the election, and at that point, it'll be up to them to judge.