Impeachment to me seems like a waste of time because the senate will not convict. However if the house does impeach does doing so give them any special powers to subpoena, investigate or indict just based on an impeachment hearing, powers that they do not have in their regular session?
They can hold hearings without calling them impeachment hearings. They can be investigtigating any number of things. The Watergate hearings were always referred to as that at the time. Nixon was never impeached. He resigned. The same could happen.
Opening an impeachment inquiry would strengthen Congress’ hand in any court case decisions against the executive branch, and it would also open up new doors of investigation, as described in this article: