Following the third day of the Senate impeachment trial, three GOP senators met with former President Donald Trump’s lawyers Thursday night for a defense team meeting.

After less than three hours of arguments, Mr. Trump’s lawyers—David Schoen, Bruce Castor Jr. and Michael van der Veen— rested their case. They called the impeachment case an act of “political vengeance” and alleged that Trump’s speech preceding the Capitol riot was “ordinary political rhetoric.”

Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn were joined by Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) for what Cruz later described the discussion as a “friendly” meeting. Cruz later described the discussion as a “friendly” meeting in which “we were discussing their strategy for tomorrow, and we were sharing our thoughts in terms of where we thought the argument was and where it should go.” Sen. Mike Lee (UT-R) also met with the defense team.

The Texas Republican conveyed his certainty of a favorable result. “Donald Trump will be acquitted,” he said. “It takes 67 votes to convict him and every person in the Senate chamber understands that there are not the votes to convict, nor should there be.”

After concerns were raised over the meeting, Cornyn acknowledged that such a meeting would not be permissible in a normal legal proceeding, but pointed to current extraordinary circumstances.

“Well this, obviously, is not a trial in the traditional sense. That would not be appropriate at a trial. But this is a political exercise as much as anything else so there’s no prohibition on that,” the Texas senator said.