Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as the rest of the Republicans in the Senate, have been hopeful for a very quick trial in the Senate.

Even Ted Cruz told the media that the trial should be over by February. This was of course in expectation of Nancy Pelosi actually delivering the articles of impeachment over to the Senate. However, we all know that it took her 33 days before she handed them over even though this was such an urgent matter that could affect national security.

Now it seems that many Republicans are in favor of hearing witnesses, therefore, they wouldn’t have enough votes to block it.

That being the case, they’re already coming up with a plan B to get this trial done with.

According to Fox News,

One plan is to amend any resolution calling for a particular witness to also include a package of witnesses that wouldn’t win enough support in the Senate. For example, if the Democrats seek to call former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Republicans might seek to question Hunter Biden over his lucrative board position in Ukraine, or Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., over his inconsistent statements concerning his panel’s contacts with the whistleblower at the center of the impeachment probe.

“After listening to the Dems’ 20+ hours of argument and the rebuttal arguments from @realDonaldTrump, I’ve got lots of questions for the Dems,” tweeted Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley on Tuesday. “Like this one: Why did Schiff lie about his contact with the ‘whistleblower’? More to come!”

The “package deal” proposal could afford moderate Republicans the political cover of voting in favor of witnesses, while ultimately rejecting a witness package. Any witness resolution would likely require four Republican defections. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and in the event of a 50-50 tie, Chief Justice John Roberts is highly likely to abstain.