Citing a "senior GOP source," CNN reported Wednesday that a group of Senate Republicans had asked President Donald Trump's administration to withdraw Andrew Puzder's name from labor secretary consideration.

CNN's source indicated at least four and as many as 12 GOP lawmakers planned to vote against Puzder's confirmation. Should Democrats uniformly line up against the labor nominee, only three Republicans would need to defect to sink Puzder's chances.

Puzder, the fast-food executive tapped to head Trump's Labor Department, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday for a confirmation hearing. The hearing had been delayed on multiple occasions because government ethics officers had not yet received Puzder's financial paperwork.

Some Senate Republicans earlier in the week had indicated they planned to withhold judgment on Puzder until after his hearing and that their refusal to publicly endorse him beforehand was simply procedural. An aide for Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., for example, told U.S. News by email that this was standard practice for Collins for nominees she does not personally know well.

But CNN's report is a much stronger indication that Puzder's confirmation could be in trouble. It comes a day after a Missouri circuit court unsealed portions of Puzder's divorce proceedings detailing an instance of assault reported by his ex-wife, Lisa Fierstein.

It also comes shortly after Politico reviewed a 1990 episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on which Fierstein appeared undercover, saying her former husband had "vowed revenge" against her. Lawmakers on the Senate's HELP Committee also reportedly had access to that episode.