Donald Trump arrives in rainy Florida to host a Super Bowl party

Donald Trump arrived in rainy Florida Friday night to host a Super Bowl party this weekend as the Senate put off a final decision on his impeachment trial until next Wednesday.

The president was on board Air Force One with first lady Melania Trump and her parents when the Senate voted not to call additional witnesses and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell offered his resolution outlining the final steps of Trump’s trial.

Trump took to Twitter to unleash his fury on Democrats, writing shortly before he exited the presidential aircraft: ‘No matter what you give to the Democrats, in the end, they will NEVER be satisfied. In the House, they gave us NOTHING!’ 

Trump spoke with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell about a plan that would put off a vote on his impeachment case until next Wednesday

McConnell spoke to the president before presenting the plan, which allows for senators to make speeches on Tuesday and for opposing lawyers to make their final arguments in the impeachment trial Monday. 

It sets up the final vote on the impeachment articles Wednesday at 4 p.m. The president is expected to be acquitted in the Republican-controlled chamber but the new time line puts off his victory until after his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.

The first couple will spend the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, the Winter White House. They will host a Super Bowl party Sunday – as they do every year – at the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach before returning to Washington D.C. Sunday evening. 

While the Trumps were in route to Florida, Senate Republicans triumphed by voting 51 to 49 against calling witnesses – who could have included John Bolton, the president’s former National Security Advisor.

Bolton delivered a new bombshell Friday an hour before the Senate opened the trial session, with another leak of his forthcoming book revealing that he will say that Trump ordered him to set up a call between Rudy Giuliani and Volodymr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, two months before the ‘perfect’ call at the center of impeachment. 

White House director of legislative affairs Eric Ueland told reporters the president was ‘gratified’ the Senate had agreed on a schedule ‘for his acquittal.’ 

The schedule senators agreed to means Trump would still be technically under an impeachment cloud when he delivers his prime-time speech, denying him the prize he has been seeking until just hours after the event.

The Democratic defeat came even as new revelations emerged Friday morning from a manuscript by Bolton, who claims President Trump told him to contact the president of Ukraine as part of a push to get investigations of the Bidens. 

‘Americans will know that this trial was not a real trial,’ said Sen. Charles Schumer immediately after the vote, calling it a tragedy on a very large scale. 

Melania Trump and the president will host a Super Bowl party at his West Palm Beach golf club on Sunday

Trump tweeted his fury at Democrats upon his arrival in rainy Florida

Schumer called it a ‘perfidy, a grand tragedy, one of the worst tragedies that the Senate has ever overcome. America will remember this day, unfortunately, where the Senate did not live up to its responsibilities … and went along with a sham trial.’ 

Utah Republican Mitt Romney and Maine Republican Susan Collins each voted ‘aye’ and voted for witnesses on the key vote. Both had indicated they wanted to hear from Bolton. 

But it wasn’t enough. Two other key Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, opted to oppose calling witnesses, letting the GOP triumph.