I would have accepted "clearly trump is afraid they'd find collusion," as a reasonable response to Trump obstructing the investigation too, up until it was revealed that it was a complete farce.
Eh, I think it depends how early you think it became obvious the whole thing was a baseless fishing expedition. After all, Trump did cooperate quite extensively with the investigation. Of course, the Flynn thing happened very early in the process. Actually, looking it up the Flynn nonsense occurred before the investigation had even begun.
Though we should also remember that the muller investigation built on the earlier
Crossfire Hurricane which started in July 2016. And, plus, well, the Muller investiation was in large parked, at least officially, kicked off by the "scandal" of Trump firing James Comey. Which sets off fairly early that the whole thing was bullshit.
So, thinking the thing was a farce was a fairly reasonable assumption by 2017, and the investigation didn't wrap up until 2019.
Loyalists of America, I think you shall soon have your smoking gun.
I mean, we won't have a smoking gun until its something that CNN would acknowledge as undeniable proof. Thus, a smoking gun is impossible.