Ted Cruz appeared to mock Nancy Pelosi's infamous hand clap on the floor of the Senate Friday after 51 Republicans voted against calling witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial - effectively ending Democrats' attempts to remove him from office.

The Texas senator, 49, was seen mimicking the clap as he spoke with other Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, before the vote was called around 5 pm.

Last year, Speaker Pelosi 'condescendingly' clapped her hands at President Trump following his State Of The Union address - a move which sparked international headlines and a flurry of memes.

On Friday, Cruz's imitation of the distinct gesture quickly went viral on Twitter, where it divided users.

Some supporters called the clap 'hilarious' and 'awesome', while one detractor claimed that the moment was unbecoming of a senator during such a somber proceeding.

Ted Cruz appeared to mock Nancy Pelosi's infamous handclap on the floor of the Senate Friday, after 51 Republican senators voted against calling witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial - effectively ending Democrat's attempts to remove him from office

Later in the evening, a gleeful Cruz appeared on Fox News to gloat about Republicans successfully blocking the Democrat's attempts to call witnesses. Senators voted 49-51, despite a bombshell revelation by former National Security Advisor John Bolton just hours earlier.

'For all intents and purposes, this impeachment process is over,' he declared, before claiming the Democrats were hoping to 'drag the process out' and 'go on a fishing expedition' for non-existent evidence.

He further hailed his Republican colleagues for largely falling in line by refusing to deny witnesses to be questioned in the Senate.

Only two Republicans, Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, crossed the aisle to join Democrats in their push for witnesses – but it was not enough to prevail.

The Senate's TV footage showed the moment that the Democrats lost

Trump boarded Air Force One for a weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago after he blasted impeachment as the 'most unfair Witch Hunt in the history of the U.S.'

Mitch McConnell and his chief of staff Sharon Soderstrom head for a caucus meeting after the vote

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.

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.'

Loss: Kamala Harris, the California Democrat and failed 2020 candidate, left the Senate chamber after the vote looking angry

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 – which Trump's lawyers could lead to weeks of additional time, with uncertain consequences. That left the Senate GOP majority, which Sen. Mitch McConnell oversees with close White House coordination, in the driver's seat.

Trump was en route to his Mar-a-Lago property in West Palm Beach, Florida, when the vote came down.

Earlier he tweeted: 'The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats keep chanting 'fairness', when they put on the most unfair Witch Hunt in the history of the U.S. Congress. They had 17 Witnesses, we were allowed ZERO, and no lawyers. They didn't do their job, had no case. The Dems are scamming America!'