Since President Trump pardoned former sheriff Joe Arpaio last week, discussions on what it could mean for the Russia investigation against President Trump have considered a wide spectrum of possibilities. One article by the Business Insider titled: "Trump's pardon of Joe Arpaio shows he could undermine one of Mueller's key tools in the Russia probe," goes through the ins and outs of the criminal and civilian law. The article teases a scenario where the President could go in and pardon each of his own Trump campaign members who are currently under investigation.

Trump's fate is up to Republicans

But the article also points to one view that has already been opined where the special prosecutor Robert Mueller reaches the end of the investigation. The assumption about Mueller's investigation is that it's leading to a criminal conviction of President Trump. However, going after the President himself are not options that Mueller has been given. He's reportedly only been tasked with taking the case to Congress and having them make that determination. Appropriately, the article refers to the investigation becoming political as it is unlikely that a Republican-led Congress is going to convict President Trump.

Treating Republicans badly

The President's fate could be determined by how the President treats republicans on the Hill.

Since taking office, President Trump has not been afraid to target members of his own party over their legislative failures. Very recently, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the President still didn't seem to want to learn how to legislate. Given the statement, McConnell might very well have been giving the President a chance to learn the process in Congress.

But the President has also been very frustrated with Congress not "going nuclear" to get his agenda passed, congressional rules be damned.

Deciding to convict

Some of the attacks that the President has engaged in has been to threaten a government shut down, either by him directly or via a member of his own cabinet, such as his director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney.

In another case, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), threatening the state with stripping it of federal support for their energy projects. This was over the fact that she has voted against repealing Obamacare.

In other situations, he's either attacked Senators via SuperPAC attack ads which got a quick response by Senate leaders asking that he stop. Given recent reports of a shouting match with McConnell, it's hard to say just how much more abuse Congress will take from the President. It is also unknown if Republicans will have had enough of the President's abuse to convict Trump on Mueller's behalf.
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