President Trump’s impeachment defense team expects a Friday cliffhanger when senators vote on whether to call witnesses in Trump’s trial.

If Democrats find four Republicans to vote for witnesses, the trial could stretch until March. If they fail, Trump likely would be quickly acquitted.

Trump confidant Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) told the New York Post he doesn’t believe there will be clarity on the outcome until “Friday of this week.”

Meadows, a member of Trump’s defense team of House lawmakers, said, “I think we all just want this to be over with,” speaking just before the Senate began a question-and-answer session at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) met with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has consistently said she’s open to possibly calling witnesses.

Some Republican senators were optimistic after the McConnell-Murkowski talk, which followed a conference meeting of senators Tuesday when McConnell said he didn’t yet have the votes to block witnesses.

Murkowski was tight-lipped after meeting with McConnell, telling reporters, “I had a meeting with Leader McConnell. But I’m not going to talk to you about my meeting.”

Murkowski added with regard to witnesses, “I’ve been talking with the folks in the cloak room about what the universe is to see how we can supplement that.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told the New York Post that the feeling among Republicans was “pretty good.”

“Obviously we need to make a decision at this point whether to drag the foregone conclusion out for another four to six weeks,” Wicker said.

“We know what the outcome is, it’s just a question of how long it’s going to last,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) angrily denied reports that he told fellow Republicans on Tuesday night that extending Trump’s trial would hurt vulnerable GOP incumbents.

“Whoever went out of that meeting and whoever informed the press was either misled, lying, or an imbecile. I didn’t say that, I’ve been very firm on this, and I have no problem whatsoever with voting no on witnesses,” Tillis said.

Four Republicans, including Murkowski, have expressed interest in possibly hearing from witnesses. Retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) told reporters Monday he intended to make up his mind “after we’ve heard the questions and the answers to the questions” on Thursday.

“I think it’s important to hear from Mr. Bolton,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters Wednesday. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a statement this week that reports about John Bolton’s book, including an allegation that Trump confessed to linking Ukraine aid to investigations of Democrats, “strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of conversations among my colleagues.”

Many other Republicans have been coy about their potential votes, either declining to speak with reporters or saying they would decide after listening carefully to proceedings.