Former independent counsel Ken Starr and defense attorney Alan Dershowitz are slated to join President Donald Trump’s defense team when the Senate’s impeachment trial begins next week, according to NBC News. Also expected to join the team are former special counsel Robert Ray and Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general.

The top headlines you need to know as you start your day on Dec. 19, 2019.

President Donald Trump is on the cusp of being impeached by the House, with a historic debate set Wednesday on charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress ahead of votes that will leave a defining mark on his tenure at the White House.

The historic debate leading up to the vote continues as of Wednesday afternoon. NBC 5’s Charlie Wojciechowski has the details on what’s happened so far.

Vicki Miller is helping to organize one of more than 600 protests planned on the eve of the House’s vote on impeaching President Donald Trump because, for the retired lawyer from Philadelphia, the evidence is clear. “You can’t solicit the help of a foreign government in an election,” she said. For only the third time on Wednesday, the House is...

 Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, says he provided the president with information that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was impeding investigations that could benefit Trump politically. Within weeks, she was recalled from her post. In an interview with The New York Times, Giuliani portrayed himself as directly involved in the effort to oust Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, and he provided...

This coming week’s virtually certain House impeachment of President Donald Trump will underscore how Democrats and Republicans have morphed into fiercely divided camps since lawmakers impeached President Bill Clinton. Twenty-one years ago this Thursday, a Republican-led House approved two impeachment articles against Democrat Clinton. While that battle was bitterly partisan, it was blurrier than the near party-line votes expected this week...

President Donald Trump addressed the media after the House Judiciary Committee sent two articles of impeachment to the full House of Representatives for consideration next week.

Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., announces the articles of impeachment debated in the House Judiciary Committee will now move to the full House of Representatives

Impeachment debate surrounding the next amendment to be introduced quickly divulged into a tit-for-tat involving allegations of cocaine usage and driving under the influence charges....

It began with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., introducing an amendment to strike former Vice President Joe Biden from the articles of impeachment as the subject of an investigation Trump wanted Ukraine to launch and replace him...

As members of the House Judiciary Committee debated the two proposed articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump Thursday morning, one phrase kept popping up: “I move to strike the last word.”
Why were they saying that?
Turns out, they were using a parliamentary procedure to keep talking longer than a five-minute rule would allow.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., responds to Rep. Steve Chabot’s, R-Ohio, comments that President Donald Trump should not be impeached because there is no evidence of a crime having been committed. Swalwell argues crimes were committed against the Constitution.

The House Judiciary Committee has debated into the evening, moving deliberately toward a historic vote to approve articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Though split sharply along party lines, the panel is expected to send the charges to the full House for it to take pre-Christmas action next week.

The articles of impeachment offered up Tuesday against President Donald Trump are narrow, but consequential. They are also likely to be approved by Democrats alone. The impending vote will thrust Trump into a club no president wants to join: only the third American leader to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He’s confronting his allegations without a hint of contrition,...

House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Tuesday that focus narrowly on allegations related to Ukraine, but the ghost of Robert Mueller appears to inform both.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff speak about the decision to introduce two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler announces the two articles of impeachment that will be introduced against President Donald Trump.

Daniel Goldman, counsel for Democrats, fielded questions about the inclusion of call information in the House Intelligence Committee report on the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry.  Ranking Member Doug Collins pressed him on the inclusion of the information gleaned from call records, calling the release of individuals names a “drive-by”.

Ranking Member Doug Collins offers up his opening statement during Monday’s impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

Chairman Jerry Nadler offers up his opening statement during Monday’s impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.