We don't know exactly WHY they ran this probe because I don't believe for one second they believed they were going to "lose". Oh, I think they knew they were losing just as I tihnk they knew they were losing in 2012. But, they had all the mechanisms in place to steal the election, just like 2012, and I am sure they were confident they'd get another stolen victory.
That said, maybe they wanted information on alt-right groups they were convinced Trump was in contact with so they could squash them like they did the tea party. There aren't any organized groups on the alt-right but they don't understand the alt-right or how it works. So who knows, we can only speculate.
What we can safely surmise is that they never believed they were going to lose so they weren't too worried about getting caught. At the most, what could happen--all hat Gowdy might run some uni-party show trials. They've been brazenly breaking the law for 8+ years with no consequence.
Let's hope they were sloppy in their arrogance and left lots of loose ends.
They’ve been brazenly breaking the law for 8+ years with no consequence.