Except that they did (https://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump/)

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/new-trump-russia-investigation-theory-fbi-spy-set-him-up.html

PUT IT ASIDE

"Put aside for a moment whether it is actually scandalous for the FBI to use an informant to uncover evidence of criminal conduct. The argument is that the clear purpose of this maneuver was to influence the 2016 election. Strassel writes that when Comey notified the National Security Council in spring 2016 that it was conducting a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign, it “officially notified senior political operators on Team Obama that the bureau had eyes on Donald Trump and Russia. Imagine what might be done in these partisan times with such explosive information.”

This sounds like a genius plan: Plant a spy to launch an investigation, and then spring the “fatal October surprise.”

Except there’s one tiny flaw in this theory: They never sprang the October surprise. The FBI kept a tight lid on the investigation — so tight, in fact, they floated a misleading story in the New York Times conveying the false impression that they saw no ties to Russia. Clinton did help finance Christopher Steele’s investigation, but also did not publish his reporting. And the Obama administration also kept a tight lid on the disturbing details that emerged. The farthest Obama went was to ask leaders of both parties to join in a bipartisan statement warning Russia not to interfere with the election — and when Mitch McConnell refused, they did nothing. When voting took place in November 2016, as far as the public was concerned, Clinton had been under FBI investigation and Trump had not.

This alleged secret plan to smear Trump only works if you actually let people know about it. It’s kind of like the Doomsday Machine in Dr. Strangelove.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982848&forum_id=2#36096940)