The white-hats were ready to go full coup, if Hillary won. So, understanding that, they would have planned as best they could not to have to do that (in my opinion). Might seem counterintuitive, or obvious, I don't know. But I do know that most real warriors don't go to war unless they have to. So it makes sense to me that they tried all the things you suggested.
Plus, I think in my mind that MI saw a lot of this play out for years, and tried to limit the damage Obutthead and Hillslag could do. Understanding that there is no way to prevent many bad things, they did what they could.
First contact with the enemy, shots fired, can change the best laid plans. So improvisations alway needed. Making the best of a bad situation. Move / countermove. So it makes it hard to guess what they knew, planned, and what happened based on conditions in the day to day combat.
Putin /ourguy
Assange (safe) /ourguy
Snowden (safe) /ourguy
Possible, but unknown.
Just my .02 .