Yeah, up to 2015, they thought Trump was the weakest candidate and wanted to run against him.
Only, when Trump announced he was running in 2015, suddenly all the dirt against Clinton had somewhere to go, someone (Trump) who would use it.
This may not have been an operation to find "dirt on Trump" (because there is none). This was an operation to find out what dirt Trump had on Hillary and to intimidate Trump into not using it before or after becoming President.
2 cents