Some of us have been sounding the alarm about independent counsel investigations for some time now. Once these things start, they take on lives of their own as investigators search relentlessly for heads they can make roll so as to justify the gig in the first place. Perhaps the most egregious example was Patrick Fitzgerald's takedown of Scooter Libby for a process crime during an "investigation" of a matter in which we later learned Fitzgerald knew what he needed to know on day one.
That is that Richard Armitage "outed" Valerie Plame in a way that didn't even approach lawbreaking. There was nothing to prosecute. But Fitzgerald had to justify himself so he spent years and millions of dollars chasing after anyone he could nab on a technicality.