Oh they were all in on it, but remember, this wasn't plan A. Plan A was to get Trump to withdraw from the race, or be defeated by the accusations at the polls. They were illegally spying on him for about a year, and created a paper trail through the FISA system that is incriminating as heck, but would never have seen the light of day if Hillary won.
Then Hillary won, Trump was inaugurated, and all of the paper trail they created was now visible to the Trump administration. They had to get rid of him, but they couldn't just make something up, they had to work with what was already there in their systems. This was never about Russia, the investigation was about two things: covering their tracks by stopping others from investigating (interference) and goading the president into interfering with the investigation. (obstruction)
It was the best they could do with what they had, something like a pair of sixes in poker, but they bluffed for two years and Trump didn't fall for it.
Isn’t “your” feast day coming up April 5th? (hehehe) St. Vincent Ferrer is the patron saint of builders - how appropriate!
Your post nails it!
Excellent comment.