GOP Could End Impeachment with Acquittal as Soon as Saturday

This long national nightmare may almost be over.

After months of Democratic debauchery, it appears as though we are reaching a reckoning in the UkraineGate scandal, as the Senate looks to expedite the verdict in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump.

After more than 90 questions and 8 hours of debate on Wednesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated to Republican senators he believes he now has the votes to defeat any Democratic motion that the Senate consider new witnesses when the Senate decides that question on Friday, according to two GOP sources. That would allow him to skip to the final stages of the trial, the sources said.

Multiple Republicans tell ABC News they hope to move quickly to a vote to acquit the president as early as Saturday, ahead of his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

ABC News’ Trish Turner caught up with McConnell as he arrived at the Capitol Thursday morning. Asked if he has the votes he needs to win the day Friday on witnesses, he responded, “We’ll see what tomorrow brings.” Then, when asked if he felt confident about the vote, he turned his head and with a sly grin and said, “I always do.”

That outcome would almost surely agitate the Democratic base, who have believed that McConnell was looking to railroad the trial into an acquittal of Trump from the very start.

The lack of additional witnesses being called in the Senate, particularly after apparent revelations this week from John Bolton and Lev Parnas, is undoubtedly going to create an entirely new controversy for the “resistance” to hang their hats on.