Trump heads to Mar-a-Lago after signing bill to avert shutdown

President Trump departed Washington to travel to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday after signing a spending package to avert another government shutdown.

Trump’s motorcade arrived at the resort later on Friday evening ahead of the holiday weekend before Presidents Day.

{mosads}Earlier in the day, Trump signed a spending package that authorized $1.375 billion in spending to go toward building 55 miles of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border — a fraction of the $5.7 billion he initially demanded for the security measure.

The move sparked outrage from some conservatives who saw the deal as a significant defeat for the president, who promised during his 2016 campaign to build a wall across the entire southern border. 

However, Trump on Friday also declared a national emergency at the border in order to bypass Congress and allocate nearly $8 billion for construction of a wall.

The move, which Trump announced in an address from the Rose Garden shortly after he signed the declaration, is expected to face multiple legal challenges.

Trump has already faced fierce opposition from lawmakers and political groups who say the president overstepped his authority with the emergency declaration. 

The president said at the White House that he predicted that the move would face challenges in court and maintained his effort would eventually succeed.

Trump traveled to Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday after staying in Washington during the 35-day partial government shutdown over December and January, when his family went to Florida.